The controversial $1.6 billion border barrier mandated by Congress to be in place by the end of the year would block Lower Valley farmers from accessing the canals upon which they depend, a prospect that drew officials from the El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1 to Washington D.C. recently to make their objections known.
The fence is planned for the north side of the water district canals, according to drawings shown to Newspaper Tree. Jesus ‘Chuy’ Reyes, general manager for the water utility, said that if the fence is built as planned the district would be unable to service the canals.
“We have ditch riders who are constantly out there cutting grass, cleaning head gates, making repairs. It’s going to be difficult to do this if our access is limited,” said Reyes. He said some of the trash includes couches and other material, which requires the use of heavy machinery for removal.?
The objection of El Paso's Lower Valley farmers is echoed the length of the border, if not always for the same reasons. Many farmers interviewed had mixed feelings about such issues as the message the fence sends, the growing militarization of the border, or the environmental issues involved in cutting into the border. Their objections generally were practical, as stated by Reyes: They want access to their water.
?Key concerns raised by Chuy Reyes, who is U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes’ brother, during the visit with members of Congress and their staffs included local traffic patterns and ingress and egress issues, dust control and damage to the levee and roads, river access during flooding and damage to private property and crops. ??Reyes and other farmers are asking for the fence to be moved closer to Mexico to allow access to the levee road that is used to service the canals. The water district provides 394 thousand acre feet of water to 36,000 accounts in the city, according to Reyes.??
El Paso Border Patrol Assistant Chief Patrol Officer Roy Hoats said that the Border Patrol has met with the water district and residents in the area through both community meetings and face to face meetings. “We are in close negotiations with U.S. IBWC and the El Paso water improvement district. We will work together including citizens and property owners to come to an amenable solution,” he said.
Hoats also said that concerns raised were mostly about water rights. “I can assure you that no one’s water rights will be interrupted,” he said.
Hoats said most of the people he talked to during the meetings were in favor of the fence being built. He also confirmed that one of the solutions the Border Patrol was looking at was to concretize a part of the canal to cut down on maintenance.??
Art Ivey, a pecan farmer in the area, says he’s for stopping illegal immigration, but that he’s neutral on the fence.
“With the technology we have, it’s not necessary to build a fence but if you’re going to do it, do it right,” he said. Ivey calls the current location of the fence “absurd, the fence should be on the flood plain on the southern side toward Mexico.” Ivey also said that in some area the fence will prevent access to private property.
??That concern is also echoed by Ramon Tirres, who said that the fence is not a solution: “Being a farmer and an outdoor kinda guy, I don’t like the fence.”
Tierres, who has grown cotton in the area for the last 33 years, questions the location as well.
“If you put the fence on the north side of the levee how do you access the areas without going through private property,” he said. “Who's going to maintain the fence – weeds etc – is it the water district’s problem or will the government look after it, or will the government reimburse the water district to do it?”
??Tirres feels that the reason people cross in the first place is to find employment.
“If you don’t hire illegals they won’t come. They want to control immigration – there’s lot of controls already in place,” he said, referring to the government.
??Jim Edd Miller, a cotton farmer in the area said that he’s “opposed but it doesn’t matter – getting it anyway,” referring to the fence. Miller compares the fence to “the Berlin Wall or the Great Wall of China- and we all know how that worked out.” He said that if the Border Patrol doesn’t put people along the fence “they’re gonna tear up your fence.” He also questioned other locations where the fence had been torn up and needed to be repaired.
??Miller said he told a group in Washington while on a conference call that “The idea of the fence if you live in Washington makes you feel real good. I don’t appreciate the harassment here in almost America. We live in almost America – It’s not America till you get past the checkpoints.”
??Miller said he first learned of the fence when Border Patrol agents asked him to sign an easement allowing engineers onto his property. He said that he wouldn’t sign anything. “I don’t know if they’re coming on 4-wheelers or in an M1-Abrams tank.”
