Texas Mayors Want to Widen Rio Grande

AOL News ^ | November 13, 2007

[Clintonfatigued]

Texan mayors opposed to a planned border fence with Mexico want to widen and deepen the Rio Grande river instead, and say it will be more effective in keeping out illegal immigrants.

The U.S. government aims to build 700 miles of new fencing along the frontier with Mexico to boost security and try to stem the tide of immigration from the south.

[Clintonfatigued]

If this is cheaper than building the fence and it works, why not?

[wastedyears]

How about just activate the Riot Act for the border? The situation is that dire.

[Pining_4_TX]

Can we stock it with alligators, too?

[Psycho_Bunny]

Texan mayors opposed to a planned border fence with Mexico want to widen and deepen the Rio Grande river instead

uh.....First of all, ya - right...lol

Second of all, why is anyone asking freakin' mayors in Texas what they think about the nations borders?

[Rb ver. 2.0]

Pirhanas would be cheaper.

[P8riot]

Only if they stock it with nile crocodiles.

[Red_Devil 232]

I guess they have never seen one of these!

[YellowRoseofTx]

A wider river would increase the time it takes to cross the Rio Grande from Mexico to up to four or five minutes, making it easier to spot would-be immigrants and allow Border Patrol speed boats to monitor the river and make arrests more easily.

But a government official who requested anonymity said Washington was concerned a bigger river may cost more lives. "A wider, deeper river means more people may drown," the official said.

[Eye of Unk]

Yes I think it should be bigger for the patrol boats.

[Red_Devil 232]

Rio Grand ... Wider and Deeper ... Garbage Bags Now Band in USA!

Rio Grand ... Wider and Deeper ... Garbage Bags Now Band in USA!

[JamesP81]

If this is cheaper than building the fence and it works, why not?

It's easier to swim a river than it is to climb a fence. Not saying it wouldn't help, but I still think a fence would be better.

[Red_Devil 232]

I guess this is just to practical?

[DesScorp]

These Mayors have basically declared their allegiance to Mexico.

[NonValueAdded]

Don’t forget to stock it with gators

[RedCell]

That’s EXACTLY what we need. None of this sissy chain-link stuff.

[Red_Devil 232]

We should fire Boeing and Halliburton and hire an Israeli construction firm!

[org.whodat]

Butt holes are looking for a cash cow.

[org.whodat]

To be serious, it is just about the dumbest thing they have come up with lately. You cannot make a river wider are deeper. You can only build damns for people to walk across and small lakes. Low IQ mayors should be the title.

[mriguy67]

Wider and deeper huh?, well I guess if they can find a tree nearly, this million dollar ‘solution’ wont work. I think a ‘trespassers beware of pitbulls’ sign would be cheaper and more effective

[Verginius Rufus]

Maybe a replica of the Great Wall of China would be nice...could double as a tourist attraction.

[AlmaKing]

So, I guess they are saying they can control a river, even though they say it’s impossible to build a fence?

[TASMANIANRED]

Wider,deeper filled with piranha and still build the fence.

[redheadtoo]

Wider and deeper seems to imply more water. So my question is, where do we get all this extra water that we will be dumping into the Gulf of Mexico?

A deeper riverbed, without more water, means nothing. And the south west United States is not exactly the wettest place on earth. I think this is just a plan to scuttle the border fence.

[Mike-o-Matic]

And more effective.

[princess leah]

Seems to me that setting explosives on the riverbanks would also slow down the invasion...we’re at war with miraders, I’m not going to be politically correct.

[Tribune7]

And put crocodiles in it!!!!!

[hinckley buzzard]

Great. Dig a channel and line it with concertina wire. Cheaper than a fence.

[Will88]

“These Mayors have basically declared their allegiance to Mexico.”

Just about. They need to be told that what crosses the border doesn’t stay at the border, and that the border is the US/Mexico border, not the Texas, Arizona, NM, California town/US border. But I’m afraid we don’t have the right people in Washington to tell them that, at least for now.

[valkyry1]

If this is cheaper than building the fence and it works, why not?

Why? sometimes there is so little water in the river, and it flows so slowly that it may not matter how much the river bed is widened and deepened. But I have not seen the Rio Grande since 1973.

[FreePoster]

You cannot make a river wider are deeper.

They probably don't expect their half-baked idea to actually be implemented.

[neb52]

I was at Big Bend maybe 4 years ago. A person could wade across without getting their shirt wet. That was during January. It was perhaps 30 feet across. There use to be a boat that some enterprising Mexicans would pick up gringos and take across the river to the little town. Plenty of cheap cold beer and lots of women. But 9/11 shut that down. No boats were allowed to be used for crossing. I know that the Rio “Grande” varies in size along its path, but I haven’t seen anything yet to be impressed about.

[neb52]

Those canyons make a good barrier for a couple of miles. There is no where to get out until you come out from the canyon. Then you are in flat prairie/desert land. It makes for good rafting though.

[valkyry1]

Where I saw the Rio Rio Grande River, it was somewhere around Roma or Rio Grande City or maybe near Zapata.

It might have been 100’ or so across.

The last I was ever one the Mexican side of the border towns, was back in the mid 1970’s. I would have been in my early to mid 20’s, and serving with the 2/1 Cav ‘BlackHawks’ as a Cobra-Huey crew chief.

And while there was an element of mystique danger and unknown, the Mexicans I think still loved us overall ... Well they loved me anyway :-)

[valkyry1]

That looks similar to the walls of that Mexican prison outside the outskirts of Mazatlan, except those walls look to be 80’ high.

[org.whodat]

They probably don't expect their half-baked idea to actually be implemented.

If you had read a little further meat-head, you would have found that I said all you could do is build dams for illegals to walk across and small lakes.

[libstripper]

Have you ever heard of row boats and canoes?

[Clintonfatigued]

Because they’re on the nation’s borders and their communities are more affected by illegal aliens than any other.

[Psycho_Bunny]

No, it doesn't work that way.  Little local mayors of podunk towns do not set national policy.  Especially considering that some of these mayors have attempted to thwart the process in the past.

No one asks San Francisco about naval policy because it has navy bases and is on the water.

[SwinneySwitch]

Widen and deepen? Sounds like Falcon Lake!

[TLI]

They need to be told that what crosses the border doesn’t stay at the border,

Dang right. Those guys put up with them for 15 minutes. I am here in Dallas and we have been putting up with them for 15 years.

[mowowie]

Apparently these mayors never heard of Cubans.

[B4Ranch]

When I was 10 years old I used to swim across a river while holding onto a 3 foot piece of 2X10. No problems at all.

[JamesP81]

When I was 10 years old I used to swim across a river while holding onto a 3 foot piece of 2X10. No problems at all.

When I was about that age, I'd swim out into the middle of the Tennesse River just for fun. No life jacket, nothing to hang on to.