Feds Look For Company To Build Border Fence In South Texas

McALLEN, Texas (AP) – The federal government is requesting bids for construction of some of the most hotly contested segments of its border fence.

The Army Corps of Engineers posted the sealed request late Friday for a preapproved contractor to build three segments. Based on draft border fence maps, the segments would total about seven miles of fencing west of Brownsville in Cameron County.

One of the segments would pass through El Calaboz, home to some of the fence’s staunchest opponents. Among them is Eloisa Tamez, a landowner who fought the project in federal court for months.

The federal government has filed condemnation lawsuits against 52 Cameron County landowners in the past month to make way for the fence.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)