McAllen mayor takes border wall protest to Monterrey

MONTERREY — A billboard in Monterrey hangs high above the highway to Reynosa, alerting motorists that not everyone on this side of the border agrees with putting a wall between the two countries.

The billboard reads “McAllen rechaza el muro fronteriza” or McAllen rejects the border wall.

It’s just part of a multi-pronged attack city and business officials in the Rio Grande Valley are mounting to convince neighbors in Mexico that the area is still open to their visits — and their money.

With the background of a "No Border Wall" poster, McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez visited Monterrey Wednesday to speak out against the federal proposal for a wall along the border, claiming the artificial barrier will send a negative signal to shoppers and business people in Mexico.

"Not all Americans are in favor of the fence," Cortez told the Monterrey and Mexican national press corps.

"But the 25 percent that are against the wall are the only ones being listened to."

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to build 135 miles of fence along the Texas border, 70 miles of which are in the Valley, Cortez said.

Agency officials expect to start construction in 2008, but Cortez and others in McAllen hope to persuade the federal government to delay or abandon the wall.

McAllen city officials and the McAllen Chamber of Commerce have launched a constant barrage of attacks at attempts to build the fence.

Pro-business people from McAllen say a wall could alienate Mexican shoppers, who bring an estimated $3.5 billion a year into the Valley in shopping and trade.

“If I thought the wall was going to stop terrorists, I would build it myself,” he said.

The trip was part of an economic development meeting between officials in the two cities.

The two cities’ economic development organizations signed an agreement to support one another in bringing jobs to the region on both sides of the border, but Cortez took time to talk to reporters and dignitaries in Monterrey about his views on the wall.

The McAllen chamber has organized several focus groups in the area, polling Monterrey-area shoppers about the wall.

Overwhelmingly, the poll shows a wall would alienate shoppers, although they said they would continue to come to McAllen, said Chamber President and CEO Steve Ahlenius.

Monterrey Mayor Adalberto Madero also expressed his hopes of keeping trade open between the two cities and strengthening relations.