Who’s in favor of a fence?

Mike Vickers, a veterinarian who lives 10 miles south of Falfurrias, said he purchased 160 acres south of Pharr a few years ago because of its potential for bird watching.

Erecting a fence would disconnect his property from the river, he said.

“It’ll kill the ambiance, it’ll kill the value of my property,” he said. “It’s very scenic property. It just turns my stomach thinking about putting that fence up.”

Vickers, who also is the chairman of the Texas Border Volunteers, said he and fellow volunteers watching the border have seen an increase in people trying to sneak into the country, but a fence is not the answer to curb illegal immigration, he said.

“This is ridiculous, a waste of taxpayers’ dollars,” he said.

(Valley Morning Star)

What’s particularly galling in all this is that Homeland Security keeps talking about “stakeholders” without defining who has a “stake” in all this… certainly landowners and ranchers like Dr. Vickers, and the folks who stand to profit from this — the realtors selling houses to the new agents (much better paid than the rest of us), the fence builders from companies like Boeing and Halliburton, and maybe the Ramada Inn which will lose the birdwatching tours that come through here… but what about those of us who have to put up with showing I.D. and going through checkpoints in Marfa (well within the United States) just to go shopping, or who drink water, or… you know… what in earlier times were called CITIZENS and RESIDENTS?