El Paso Denies Feds Access To Road For Border Fence
EL PASO (AP) -Cityofficialshave decided to block efforts by federal authorities to use an access road that cuts across city property to work on existing border fencing.
The El Paso City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to block the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque district, from using the access road.
The vote, which CityRep. Steve Ortega described as “symbolic,” is the latest salvo by cities and property owners opposed to plans to build several hundred miles of new fencing in Texas.
“They haven’t made a case of why we need a new fence,” City Rep. Susie Byrd said after the vote.
Byrd said she was most concerned by what she described as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s lack of cooperation with local communities.
“The first time we’ve heard from them was today,” Byrd said.
“I lived in Germany when the Berlin Wall was up and I was always thinking to myself, my country would never do this to keep people in or keep people out,”said West El PasoRep. Ann Morgan Lilly.”I’ll just tell you right now — a wall or a fence — they’re ugly and they’re very offensive and I can in no way ever support this.”
In El Paso, Homeland Security officials have proposed replacing stretches of fencing near the city’s downtown that have been in place for well over a decade. There is also a plan to add new fencing that would cover more than a half-mile near one of the city’s international bridges.
Homeland Security has announced plans to build 56.7 miles of new fencing east of El Paso, in largely rural stretches of El Paso and Hudspeth counties.
Barry Morrisey, a Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman, did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment Tuesday.
Tuesday’s vote won’t have any impact on that construction and may land El Paso in federal court.
The government has sued dozens of property owners, including the city of Eagle Pass, for access to land for fence construction. In many cases federal judges in South Texas have sided with the government and granted access for at least 180 days.
In El Paso, the government was asking for access for two years to a road on city property that leads to an existing staging area owned by the International Water and Boundary Commission.
The existing fencing in El Paso sits on land owned by the IBWC, the agency responsible for maintaining the international border with Mexico.
Ortega said the vote sends an important message about the city’s opposition to what he said was a symbolic attempt to secure the border.
“We met symbolism with symbolism,” Ortega said.
