EL PASO — Judith Ackerman, 55, a local environmental activist and El Paso citizen, was arrested on a stretch of road near the Border Highway on December 18, 2008. Cited for civil disobedience after halting construction of the Border Wall for seven hours, Ackerman was handcuffed onsite and forced into a police patrol car. Her actions were representative of thousands of pleas against the Border Wall, though today, the Wall is just six miles from completion in El Paso.
A view of the border wall from Paisano Street, El Paso. (Cassandra Yardeni/Borderzine.com)
In 2006, then-President George W. Bush signed the Secure Fence Act, mandating that “the Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide for at least two layers of reinforced fencing, the installation of additional physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras and sensors” along the 850 miles that stretches the United States’ southern border. The Bush administration insisted that the hundreds of miles of steel fencing are needed to quell drug trafficking, stop terrorism and curb illegal immigration. Total price estimates range between $2 billion to $49 billion, with costs for maintaining erosion, flooding, ware and tear tacking onto the hefty price tag each year.
Although met with tremendous opposition from indigenous defense groups, environmental activists, immigration agencies, and even local government representatives, construction of the multibillion-dollar wall began that year. Resembling the Berlin Wall, 15-feet-tall steel plates were erected first on California and Arizona borders to Mexico, while construction in El Paso began in early 2007.
Opponents of the Border Wall insist the infrastructure will do little to alleviate border problems. In fact, challengers contend that the Wall’s measures are counteractive, serving as a racist symbol and gauging tax payers while destroying precious El Paso land. The section of the Border Wall being constructed in El Paso stretches between the US and Mexico, with the Border Highway and Paisano Street hosting the majority of the construction.
Upon her arrest, Judith Ackerman had been defending the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park, a protected natural area on the Rio Grande. After 10 years of painstaking revitalization efforts, Ackerman and her fellow volunteers had restored the Rio Grande wetlands, progress which has been compromised by the construction of the Border Wall. “The Border Wall threatens this rebirth of nature. Its path will cut off Rio Bosque from the river, preventing the movement of species and severely limiting the park’s value as habitat,” said Stefanie Herweck, a spokeswoman for the No Border Wall coalition. “The river and the wetlands are intimately and inextricably connected, the Border Wall is a knife through the heart.” One member of the US Border Patrol responded that “the government is a good steward of the environment. We didn’t arbitrarily pick that spot; there were many studies done on the environmental impact.”
Other local groups have been speaking out to try and halt construction of Wall. The Lipan Apaches Women Defense group drafted a letter to President Obama this month, bolstered with support from elected El Paso officials like state Senator Eliot Shapleigh, City Councilman Steve Ortega and US Congressman, Silvestre Reyes. In the letter, the group urges Obama to “stop building these ill-conceived walls founded in current notions of racism.”
Local Border Patrol officials, however, are on the side of Congress when it comes to the Border Wall construction. One Border Patrol agent intern who wishes to remain anonymous said, “I’m for the Border Wall. I’ve been for it before I became an agent. It’s not necessarily to keep civilians from Juarez out, it’s to protect the nation’s border from drug smugglers and human traffickers.”
“The fence is not the end-all solution,” admitted Ramiro Cordero, a supervisor for the Border Patrol public affairs office. “It is only part of the three-phase structure.” The three-pronged structure includes personnel, technology and infrastructure, a part of the plan facilitated by constructed of the Wall.
Cordero admitted that although the Wall is not impenetrable (there have been numerous instances of illegal immigrants climbing or cutting the chain link fence), it has significantly decreased the amount of apprehensions since its inception. “If you look at historical data,” he said, “We started the national strategy about three years ago. In 2006, our apprehensions totaled 122,000 just in El Paso. In 2007, we had 75,000 apprehensions—a decrease of 38%.” Of those apprehensions, he said, about 20% were documented criminals.
He likened the Border Wall to erecting a fence around one’s personal property. “Yes, we trust our neighbors, but it doesn’t mean we can’t put a fence there. The trade and the interstate commerce go through the Port of Entry, just like neighbors have to go through the front door and wait for you to let them in.”
Cordero interjected that the construction of the Border Wall was implemented by Congress, and it is we civilians who have the power to change legislation. “If you don’t agree, get more involved with your representatives,” he said.
As of early 2009, The County of El Paso had filed an appeal in its lawsuit with the US Supreme Court, pleading for a halt in construction of the Border Wall.
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