Border Fence Violates Treaty, Increases Flood Risk (and Will Fail to Significantly Curtail Immigration)

The Houston Chronicle (here) reports that a planned, much-debated fence along the U.S.-Mexico border designed to keep people from crossing the Rio Grande could exacerbate flooding and skew the national boundary, the International Boundary and Water Commission, a binational commission, said last Wednesday. An impermeable fence anywhere between the river and levees, which can be as far as 1 1/2 miles from the river itself, could cause flooding in addition to violating a 1970 treaty, said Sally Spener, spokeswoman for the International Boundary and Water Commission. The treaty declared the international boundary at the midpoint of the river and prohibited construction of anything that could deflect or obstruct the water flow and harm the other side. “If you have a structure that is going to alter the river channel, then you are in effect altering the boundary between the United States and Mexico,” she said.

Moreover, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democratic candidate for president said Sunday that building a fence between the United States and Mexico will not stop illegal immigration. “This wall is wrong. This wall is a terrible symbol between two countries that are friends,” he said, on NBC’s “Meet the Press” (here). In addition, Richardson said that a 10-foot wall would lead to 11-foot ladders.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democratic candidate for president said Sunday that building a fence between the United States and Mexico will not stop illegal immigration.

“This wall is wrong. This wall is a terrible symbol between two countries that are friends,” he said, on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”  In addition, Richardson said that a 10-foot wall would lead to 11-foot ladders.

KJ