March 20, 2008
El Paso puts up a roadblock to the border fence

The city of El Paso joins the resistance to the border fence.


The country's largest border city has decided to block efforts by federal authorities to use an access road that cuts across city property to work on existing border fencing.

The El Paso City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to block the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque district, from using the access road.

The vote, which City Councilman Steve Ortega described as "symbolic," is the latest salvo by cities and property owners opposed to plans to build several hundred miles of new fencing in Texas.

"They haven't made a case of why we need a new fence," City Councilwoman Susie Byrd said after the vote.

Byrd said she was most concerned by what she described as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's lack of cooperation with local communities.

"The first time we've heard from them was today," Byrd said.


The most likely outcome from this is to be sued by the feds, as they have done with other landowners who have refused to grant access for the fence.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on March 20, 2008 to National news
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