Uncertainty remains with border fence locations

Although the Department of Homeland Security released new maps of where the proposed border fence who be located on Monday, there is still some uncertainty has to where exactly the fence will be built.

Initial plans indicated that a part of the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College’s International, Technology, Education and Commerce Campus (ITEC) would be fenced out.

But Antonio D. Zavaleta, UTB-TSC vice president for external affairs, said Tuesday that the most recent map clearly shows that the ITEC campus would not be affected.

“We are very, very pleased about that,” Zavaleta said. “At the first hint of the suggestion that the ITEC would be affected, we became very active and vocal,” he said, emphasizing that the university doesn’t support the fencing.

“There is still some question of the area below the Gateway Bridge, including our golf course, and we hope and pray that it’s not included,” he said.

Brownsville Public Utilities Board spokeswoman Lucy Hernandez said that the utility officials have not had the opportunity to review the map and were not sure if any PUB lands could be impacted.

For his part Mayor Pat M. Ahumada Jr. has called for an Oct. 2 workshop to discuss the proposed wall at 5 p.m. in the City Commission Chamber at City Hall, 1001 E. Elizabeth St.

A press released from City Hall notes that maps show the immediate Brownsville area would be impacted by some 22.76 miles of fence while the remainder of Cameron County would have about 12.54 miles of fencing.

Ahumada urges the business, private, and public sector to attend the forum. He advocates that PUB’s proposed weir dam would provide a natural barrier, instead.

“A weir dam will offer just as much security to us as a wall, but will carry with it none of the ecological and esoteric harm expected to impact Brownsville, Cameron County and the Rio Grande Valley,” Ahumada said.

Hidalgo County’s Drainage District Manager Godfrey Garza Jr. and Judge J.D. Salinas said U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials still had not told them whether its proposed border fence will interfere with the county’s floodway system.

“That’s the federal government, you know,” Garza said, laughing.

“The fencing itself is a national security issue, so they release (information) when they want to release it and to whom they want to release it.”

But the county officials have tentatively scheduled a meeting in Washington D.C. with Texas’ two U.S. senators, Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, as well as other federal officials, for Oct. 16. They hope to learn exactly where the feds want to build the fence and whether it will affect water flow along area levees.

As Hidalgo County has started to upgrade its levees, area leaders remain concerned that a border fence could divert where potential floodwater would flow, Salinas said.

“We’re going to look diligently at it and see what kinds of plans they have so we can continue ours,” he said. “We’re concerned about any structure that will be built around the levees that may affect the flow of water.”

Garza said he has unofficially heard from federal planners that the fence would be built along the levees, not on top of them or inside the floodways.

But until county leaders meet with federal officials in October, he said he really doesn’t know exactly where the fence will go.

“The logistics of it just need to be laid out,” he said.

Former state representative Alex Moreno with the No Border Wall Coalition announced Tuesday that a “Brownsville No Border Wall Pachanga in the Park” would be held at 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29 at Dean Porter Park, across from the Gladys Porter Zoo.

Community and religious leaders will address the group. “Everyone is encouraged to come and enjoy the day and take a stand against the border wall,” a statement issued by Moreno’s group notes.

Eperez-trevino@brownsvilleherald.com

What: Brownsville No Border Wall Pachanga in the Park

Where: Dean Porter Park

When: at 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29

What: City Commission Workshop

Where: City Commission Chamber at City Hall, 1001 E. Elizabeth St.

When: 5 p.m., Oct. 2