New Mexicans weigh in on wall
Some praise Trump plan, but others say unneeded, costly project could hurt trade
LAS CRUCES — As President Donald Trump turned his campaign call for a border wall into an official mandate, border residents met the news with a mix of skepticism, hope and concern.
Trump signed an executive order authorizing the Department of Homeland Security to “immediately plan, design, and construct a physical wall along the southern border” and defining the wall as an “impassable physical barrier.”
The ACLU in Las Cruces called the plan “a 15th century solution to a nonexistent problem,” citing historically low levels of illegal immigration along the Mexican border.
Border ranchers, meanwhile, expressed hope that their security concerns were finally being addressed by the federal government but questioned whether “an 18-foot wall” will be met with “a 20-foot ladder.”
And a local industrial leader worried about the tone being set with Mexico, New Mexico’s fastest-growing trade relationship.
Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation praised Trump’s decision to boost the number of Border Patrol agents but expressed skepticism about the virtues of a wall.
New Mexico shares 180 miles of border with Mexico, including urban areas fenced with 18-foot steel columns and rural stretches of low vehicle barriers. But parts of the state’s rugged, moun-
tainous borderland remain unfenced.
Judy Keeler ranches in Hidalgo County and has been vocal about border security. Asked whether a wall will work, she answers that, for starters, the border needs a road. There is no passable road running along the border from Antelope Wells to the Arizona line.
“With my experience, it’s important to get the Border Patrol agents on the border,” she said. “I mean on the border, not a mile, 10 miles or 50 miles from the border. There is no infrastructure down there to make it clear they can get down on the border. A road would simplify things so much.”
Old fence replaced
In Sunland Park, Border Patrol is finishing an $11 million project to replace about a mile and a half of dilapidated chain-link with thick, 18-foot steel columns, reinforced with steel panels 5 feet underground. The new fence walls off the last unwalled urban area on New Mexico’s southern border.
That fencing is among the last to go up after a decadelong effort by two previous administrations to fence the Southwestern border, paid for by the Secure Fence Act of 2006. Since then, 533 miles of fence and vehicle barriers have been erected.
U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., said a wall and more agents alone “will not fix the faults with our border security” and proposed reforming “the way we patrol and protect the border.”
Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said that he supports hiring more agents but that a wall would be “ineffective and outrageously expensive” while serving as “a symbol that empowers anti-immigrant rhetoric, while disrupting our relationship with Mexico.”
High costs
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection report, provided to the Trump administration and obtained by the Reuters news agency, identified more than 400 miles where new fencing could be constructed at an estimated cost of $11.37 billion.
Trump’s plan “doesn’t have a careful analysis of whether this is an effective thing to do, to build a wall, particularly when net migration from Mexico is at zero,” said Vicki Gaubeca, director of the ACLU’s Regional Center for Border Rights in Las Cruces.
“It doesn’t make sense to spend billions of dollars of taxpayer money on something that is really not necessary. This is a 15th century solution to a nonexistent problem. We need a 21st century, common-sense border policy that upholds the dignity of our border residents.”
The Pew Research Center has reported that since 2010, more Mexicans have left the U.S. by choice or by removal than have immigrated to the U.S. — a trend known as “net zero” migration.
Border Patrol apprehensions at the border in the Southwest have fallen to levels not seen since the early 1970s, although numbers have ticked higher at the New Mexico border in recent years.
Agents apprehended 408,870 migrants in fiscal 2016 at the border in the Southwest, the majority from Central America and countries other than Mexico. In some cases fleeing brutal violence and hoping for leniency, many give themselves up to border agents and claim asylum.
Apprehensions in New Mexico rose over the past five years, to more than 18,500 in fiscal 2016 from fewer than 7,000 in fiscal 2011.
“We as Border Patrol agents talk about infrastructure on the border, a fence, a wall — same difference,” Border Patrol spokesman Ramiro Cordero said. “It’s an obstacle to buy time for us to respond to any intrusion.”
Ranchers angry
Last year, hundreds of border ranchers from Texas to Arizona met in the small Bootheel town of Animas to voice their anger about a perceived lack of border security. Several had firsthand experience with break-ins or had witnessed drug mules trekking over their property and — more than a wall — they called for more boots on the ground.
On Wednesday, Trump authorized the Deopartment of Homeland Secutiry to hire 5,000 more Border Patrol agents and triple the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers nationwide. Border Patrol staffing fell below 20,000 agents in fiscal 2016 for the first time since 2008, largely because the agency has struggled to recruit and retain agents. ICE currently has about 6,000 personnel.
In Santa Teresa and in Columbus — where New Mexico has its two busiest border crossings — local leaders worried about the tone the new administration is setting with Mexico.
New Mexico’s exports to Mexico have been surged to $1.68 billion in 2015 from $800.7 million in 2013.
“No other state has as much at stake,” said Jerry Pacheco, president of the Border Industrial Association in Santa Teresa. “A border wall doesn’t affect trade, but it affects relations, and it certainly does not send a good signal to one of our top trading partners.”
Trump’s executive order came on the same day that two members of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s Cabinet were supposed to meet with members of the Trump administration; the Mexican president reportedly is reconsidering his scheduled meeting with Trump next week.
Columbus Mayor Philip Skinner said he could envision a scenario in which the construction of a border wall would boost the local economy but added, “It would not be good for Columbus if we start getting in a trade fight with Mexico.”
“I just don’t think it’s the right tone,” Skinner said.
Dudley Williams, who ranches in Doña Ana County, recalls seeing a version of the wall in California.
“A few years ago, I was going fishing in Baja and I crossed at Calexico. There was a wall there — pretty substantial; it wasn’t see-through. They had doors cut in it. The joke went around, you build an 18-foot fence and they buy a 20-foot ladder.”