As America prepares to elect its 44th president, the outcome of the November vote will influence a number of key issues and drive policy in either center-left or center-right directions.

Should Barack Obama win the election, as polls now show, what will become of the border fence?

The immigration restrictionists’ simplistic answer to stemming illegal immigration hasn’t turned out to be so easy after all. Skyrocketing construction costs and tough legal challenges in South Texas to the proposed structure have slowed things to such a crawl that the federal goverment’s goal of building 670 miles of fencing by year’s end will not be met.

The cost to build this thing? It’s a staggering $7 million per mile, which is up from the original $4 million estimate. The project’s cost overruns when combined with the hundreds of lawsuits from landowners challenging the federal government’s confisication of their property is leading some congressmen - Democrats and Republicans - to hope the next president will take a a new look at the so-called border fence.

After a recent flyover to view security efforts on the ground by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a Republican congressman from Austin, Michael McCaul, called for more funding for law enforcement efforts versus resources aimed at fence construction. McCaul made his comments to the San Antonio Express-News, as did U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, who also represents part of the Rio Grande Valley.

“Let’s regroup and provide border security in a smart way and not just waste the taxpayers’ dollars,” Cuellar said.

Other South Texas and border congressmen, including Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, Ruben Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, and Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, have all called for a complete review of fence construction once the new president and his administration take office in January, 2009. 

So how would a President Obama view the border fence?

He voted for the measure in the fall of 2006, as did his Republican opponent John McCain of Arizona. In their quest for the presidency after gaining the nominations of their respective parties, both candidates have backed away some from their support of the fence. Seeking the support of Hispanic voters in some key battleground states has no doubt altered the views of both candidates on this issue - and the immigration issue in general.

Obama, in particular, has been clear in wanting to try again for another round of immigration reform that will balance border security with providing a path to legalization for illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria. That’s a view McCain long held before retreating in face of fierce opposition by the far right of his party.

The building of a border fence, however, is the law of the land, passed by Congress and signed by President Bush in 2006 after Washington’s efforts for common-sense immigration reform failed miserably, thanks to the immigration restrictionists of the political right and their allies in the talk radio arena. With more Democrats in office after the 2008 elections, and with a president of their party in power, could some of the original fence-building plans be altered? Maybe less fencing and more funding for the Border Patrol and other federal law enforcement efforts?

Perhaps, but we, unfortunately, are already seeing fence construction in the Valley. The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, under the leadership of its president, Juliet Garcia, won a smashing victory a few months back in getting the feds to scale back their original fence-building plans. The first fence plan would have cut the campus in two and cut off access to the university’s golf course over the levee. Still, fence construction has begun after all of the haggling. The same goes in Hidalgo County, where a combination flood levee/fence project is now going up south of Mission.

With fresh leadership in Washington early next year, border communities can hope that the whole scope of border security will be looked at again. This time, let’s hope for a more progressive and balanced view that guides the nation away from simplistic and restrictive proposals.

- R.D. Cavazos

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