McALLEN, Texas When people talk about building a border fence, often they re talking about Texas. Nearly half of the border between Mexico and California, Arizona and New Mexico already has some sort of barrier. But Texas, which claims 1,245 of 2,000 miles on the nation s southern border, has only about 100 miles of fence. The Rio Grande, narrow in West Texas but swelling to an average of 200 feet across in the Rio Grande Valley area, has been a natural divider.
A decade after the Secure Fence Act required the Department of Homeland Security to build up to 700 miles of border fence, what s been built so far is not only what made sense tactically, but what was easiest to put up, says Scott Nicol, who leads the Sierra Club s Borderlands campaign out of McAllen. Nicol walks through the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse, one of nine locations of the Rio Grande Valley s World Birding Center, less than half a mile from the border. A sign promises a pedestrian walking trail into the National Wildlife Refuge next door, yet the path ends at an enormous metal gate flanked by a fence made from 18-foot-high steel beams.
They built this here because it s federal land and they didn t have to fight anybody, he says. Most of the land along the border in the Western states is owned by the federal government, something known as the Roosevelt Easement. This 60-foot buffer does not exist in Texas, where private landowners must give up their property for a fence to be built.
To put up the 100 miles of fence that exist today required 400 landowner condemnations and led to several long and costly lawsuits. A further challenge: A treaty between the U.S. and Mexico prohibits building anything that interferes with the flow of the river or that worsens flooding for either country. As a result, in most places the fence stands on top of the levee, half a mile or more from the river. In the Rio Grande Valley, the southernmost tip of Texas anchored by the cities of McAllen and Brownsville, the fence doesn t separate countries. It cleaves farmlands, splits backyards and divides neighborhoods.
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Two young boys play while their families and others are detained at the Department of Homeland Security’s Centralized Processing Center in McAllen, Texas, on May 17, 2016.
Sunflowers glow in the late-day light against a perimeter fence around the Laredo Community College campus that lies just a few hundred feet from the Rio Grande River in Laredo, Texas, on May 16, 2016. Latitude: 27.511868 Longitude: -99.523398
Sun sets on the border town of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, on May 19, 2016. Latitude: 26.093567 Longitude: -98.272169
Laredo, Texas resident Juan Rodriguez, 14, casts his line out to fish for catfish in the Rio Grande River at Los Dos Laredos Park just across the border from Mexico on May 16, 2016. Latitude: 27.499321 Longitude: -99.510942
A Border Patrol agent drives along the Levee Road border fence where it lies nearly a thousand feet from a bend in the Rio Grande River in Brownsville, Texas, on May 17, 2016. Latitude: 25.88272 Longitude: -97.450361
The border fence snakes through private farmland on May 19, 2016, in Brownsville, Texas.
A man and woman take a late-day stroll on the walking path around Laredo Community College with security cameras and perimeter fencing separating the campus from the Rio Grande River in Laredo, Texas, on May 16, 2016. Latitude: 27.511868 Longitude: -99.523398
The Rio Grande River undulates just west of the Hidalgo port of entry on May 19, 2016, in Hidalgo, Texas. Latitude: 26.106044 Longitude: -98.268971
Jesse Reyes, walks through a massive vehicle gate in his backyard where the border fence runs directly through on May 20, 2016, in Brownsville, Texas. The gate, which all landowners receive a unique passcode to get through, allows his access to his land on the other side of the fence Latitude: 25.891586 Longitude: -97.379749
A Border Patrol agent on an ATV searches for migrants that agents had tracked in a heavily treed area on May 19 2016, near Brownsville, Texas.
A Union Pacific freight train heads north across the Rio Grande River into Laredo, Texas, May 16, 2016. Latitude: 27.49984 Longitude: -99.513259
A pair of couches are dumped on the side of the road near where the border fence stretches across a swath of farmland near the Rio Grande River in Brownsville, Texas, on May 17, 2016. Latitude: 25.877744 Longitude: -97.447094
Danny Mena, 4, looks for comfort from his dad, Jorge Alfredo Batres Mena, 24, while they receive assistance from the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley on May 19, 2016, in McAllen, Texas. The pair hail from El Salvador.
A man fishes on the Rio Grande River near Anzalduas Park in Mission, Texas, on May 17, 2016. Reynosa, Mexico is in the background. Latitude: 26.141425 Longitude: -98.329461
Mark Clark, artist and owner of Galleria 409, can see the U.S.-Mexico border fence from his gallery’s balcony in Brownsville, Texas, on May 20, 2016. Latitude: 25.900019 Longitude: -97.497846
Jorge Alfredo Batres Mena, 24, consoles his son Danny Mena, 4, who was feeling ill while they await help from the Catholic Charities of Rio Grande Valley volunteers on May 19, 2016, in McAllen, Texas. The pair hail from El Salvador.
Migrant families receive assistance from volunteers at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on May 18, 2016, in McAllen, Texas. The family units arrive by bus after processing by the Department of Homeland Security.
The eastern-most stretch of border fence as it runs out just east of Brownsville, Texas, on May 19, 2016. Latitude: 25.913991 Longitude: -97.372953
The port of entry between Hildago, Texas and Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico (top) on May 19, 2016, in Hidalgo, Texas. Latitude: 26.095947 Longitude: -98.270988
Jesse Reyes, walks through a massive vehicle gate in his backyard where the border fence runs directly through on May 20, 2016, in Brownsville, Texas. The gate, which all landowners receive a unique passcode to get through, allows his access to his land on the other side of the fence Latitude: 25.891586 Longitude: -97.379749
A sign calling for political action regarding the border at the property of Pamela Taylor, which runs right up to the Rio Grande River in Brownsville, Texas, on May 17, 2016. Latitude: 25.878232 Longitude: -97.45079
Two young boys play while their families and others are detained at the Department of Homeland Security’s Centralized Processing Center in McAllen, Texas, on May 17, 2016.
Sunflowers glow in the late-day light against a perimeter fence around the Laredo Community College campus that lies just a few hundred feet from the Rio Grande River in Laredo, Texas, on May 16, 2016. Latitude: 27.511868 Longitude: -99.523398
Sun sets on the border town of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, on May 19, 2016. Latitude: 26.093567 Longitude: -98.272169
Laredo, Texas resident Juan Rodriguez, 14, casts his line out to fish for catfish in the Rio Grande River at Los Dos Laredos Park just across the border from Mexico on May 16, 2016. Latitude: 27.499321 Longitude: -99.510942
A Border Patrol agent drives along the Levee Road border fence where it lies nearly a thousand feet from a bend in the Rio Grande River in Brownsville, Texas, on May 17, 2016. Latitude: 25.88272 Longitude: -97.450361
The border fence snakes through private farmland on May 19, 2016, in Brownsville, Texas.
A man and woman take a late-day stroll on the walking path around Laredo Community College with security cameras and perimeter fencing separating the campus from the Rio Grande River in Laredo, Texas, on May 16, 2016. Latitude: 27.511868 Longitude: -99.523398
The Rio Grande River undulates just west of the Hidalgo port of entry on May 19, 2016, in Hidalgo, Texas. Latitude: 26.106044 Longitude: -98.268971
Jesse Reyes, walks through a massive vehicle gate in his backyard where the border fence runs directly through on May 20, 2016, in Brownsville, Texas. The gate, which all landowners receive a unique passcode to get through, allows his access to his land on the other side of the fence Latitude: 25.891586 Longitude: -97.379749
A Border Patrol agent on an ATV searches for migrants that agents had tracked in a heavily treed area on May 19 2016, near Brownsville, Texas.
A Union Pacific freight train heads north across the Rio Grande River into Laredo, Texas, May 16, 2016. Latitude: 27.49984 Longitude: -99.513259
A pair of couches are dumped on the side of the road near where the border fence stretches across a swath of farmland near the Rio Grande River in Brownsville, Texas, on May 17, 2016. Latitude: 25.877744 Longitude: -97.447094
Danny Mena, 4, looks for comfort from his dad, Jorge Alfredo Batres Mena, 24, while they receive assistance from the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley on May 19, 2016, in McAllen, Texas. The pair hail from El Salvador.
A man fishes on the Rio Grande River near Anzalduas Park in Mission, Texas, on May 17, 2016. Reynosa, Mexico is in the background. Latitude: 26.141425 Longitude: -98.329461
Mark Clark, artist and owner of Galleria 409, can see the U.S.-Mexico border fence from his gallery’s balcony in Brownsville, Texas, on May 20, 2016. Latitude: 25.900019 Longitude: -97.497846
Jorge Alfredo Batres Mena, 24, consoles his son Danny Mena, 4, who was feeling ill while they await help from the Catholic Charities of Rio Grande Valley volunteers on May 19, 2016, in McAllen, Texas. The pair hail from El Salvador.
Migrant families receive assistance from volunteers at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on May 18, 2016, in McAllen, Texas. The family units arrive by bus after processing by the Department of Homeland Security.
The eastern-most stretch of border fence as it runs out just east of Brownsville, Texas, on May 19, 2016. Latitude: 25.913991 Longitude: -97.372953
The port of entry between Hildago, Texas and Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico (top) on May 19, 2016, in Hidalgo, Texas. Latitude: 26.095947 Longitude: -98.270988
Jesse Reyes, walks through a massive vehicle gate in his backyard where the border fence runs directly through on May 20, 2016, in Brownsville, Texas. The gate, which all landowners receive a unique passcode to get through, allows his access to his land on the other side of the fence Latitude: 25.891586 Longitude: -97.379749
A sign calling for political action regarding the border at the property of Pamela Taylor, which runs right up to the Rio Grande River in Brownsville, Texas, on May 17, 2016. Latitude: 25.878232 Longitude: -97.45079