CBP: Fence plans could change

GRANJENO — Some segments of the 70-mile border fence slated for development in the Rio Grande Valley this spring could shorten, lengthen or altogether disappear before construction begins, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said on Tuesday.

But news that the agency’s plans might change offered little relief to panicked landowners whose property abuts the Rio Grande.

“Nobody knows what’s going to happen. We’re all still waiting,” said 74-year-old Daniel Garza, whose Granjeno plot would be slashed in half according to documents the U.S. Department of Homeland Security relased on Monday.

The proposal, which was posted online Monday and included the most detailed maps of planned fence sites yet released, rekindled a months-long debate in this rural community south of Mission.

(View the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Mid Rio Grande Valley and Upper Rio Grande Valley)

The 70 miles planned throughout the Valley are the most of any region in the country.

Still, it’s too soon to draw conclusions, said Brad Benson, a Washington-based spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The maps were included as part of an environmental impact study notice on proposed fence sites. But plans could change based on the study’s results. Anything from unforeseen construction complications to adverse affects on local wildlife could force changes, he said.

“From my experience, these plans change all the time,” he said. “I see this as a very conservative map covering all considerable fence sites, but they may not all be built.”

Currently, plans call for a 2-mile stretch along the levee that borders Granjeno’s southern border to go up around the future site of the Anzalduas International Bridge. It would spare local hotspot Pepe’s On the River, but would leave nearby Anzalduas County Park on the southern side of the barrier.

U.S. Border Patrol agents hope the fence will funnel illegal border crossers away from communities directly on the river and into more remote areas of the county where they can be more easily apprehended. So, Cameron and Starr counties, where more populated cities like Brownsville and Rio Grande City are situated directly along the Rio Grande — as opposed to rural communities like Granjeno along the river in Hidalgo County — are pegged with more of the fence.

As copies of the new maps circulated around Granjeno on Tuesday, residents swapped stories of surveyors spotted up the street and real estate appraisers driving through town, clipboards in hand.

“They’re all over the place,” Anzalduas Park Director Sergio Saenz said. “We’re still wondering if they’re here to build the fence or to build the levees.”

Border Patrol agents have increased visits to the tight-knit community in recent weeks asking residents for their opinion on the fence and distributing consent forms for surveyors to enter their land.

Earlier this year, the Granjeno City Commission passed a resolution objecting to the wall’s construction in their community.

And so far, all but two city residents said they will refuse surveyors’ requests, Mayor Alberto Magallan said.

Roy Garza, 68, who lives in a spacious home along El Camino Real, keeps his consent form shut away in a wooden cigar box and swears it will stay there.

Agents approached his wife, Maria Elena, last week and asked her to sign it on the spot, he said. The document, written in complicated legalese, would authorize crews to cross their property and park equipment on their land.

“If you read this letter, the terms are very hard to understand,” he said. “The majority of people that live here are 50 to 60 and don’t understand.”

Surveyors told Daniel Garza, who is not related to Roy and lives a few houses down, that the fence line could extend into his back yard.

“They said the survey wasn’t going to hurt nobody,” he said. “But I’m not going to let them on my land.”

Landowners have the right to refuse surveyors access but that won’t necessarily put an end to the matter, Benson said.

“I hate to use any of the horrible language of eminent domain or going to court,” he said. “But securing the border is going to be the ultimate mission.”