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Exactly.

Have the folks who are screaming about the fence seen how the Rio Grande River travels along the US-Mexican borders? The river runs almost across the entire borders of Texas and Mexico and it is shared by both the US and Mexico. There is no way we can build a wall on this river without a significant impact on the use of the river by the US or by Mexico. Only technical and human monitoring of illegal aliens would work on the borders between the US and Mexico along the Rio Grande River.

People can simple search the internet for Rio Grande River and Texas-Mexcio borders to see that simple fact I mentioned above.

Well, I’m damn sure that Mexico isn’t going to allow the fence to be built on their side of the Rio. So, according to our resident immigration experts here on FR, losing access to the Rio Grande and its water with a 20’ high electric fence is a perfectly acceptable trade. Try telling that to the farmers and ranchers who depend on that water.

Here is an interesting article detailing some of the absurdities of fencing the Rio Grande.

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/28/nation/la-na-texas-fence-20110228

So you want to secure the border. And you think you want to build a fence. And you say Israel has a fence.

Okay…let’s build a fence.

But first, recognize that Israel. Doesn't. Have. A. River. Defining. Its. Border!

Second, in the United States of America we have a little thingy called "Property Rights".

But, anyhoo...

Now, you’re the King of Texas. You get to make the decisions and spend the taxpayers’ money. You tell us where to build it.

Let’s deal with the topography alone for now. AND you get to decide where to spend the money on it. Not your money, mind you…the taxpayers’ money. And not FEDERAL money…Texans’ money. (Because of course, the Feds ain’t doing it.)

It’s somewhere between 1500 and 1900 miles worth of border, depending on how you calculate it. That’s equivalent to a stretch from Massachusetts to Florida.

So first…where do you want to get the money for the fence? No answer for that, yet?

Okay, let’s move to the topography itself…

Where do you want to build it? In the middle of the Rio Grande River? On the Mexican side of the river? Or on the Texas side of the river, ceding part of Texas to Mexico?

Let’s take a look at the Texas/Mexico border.

Here’s what a LOT of the border looks like:

Mexico is on the left of the river and Texas on the right.

The Texas/Mexico border:

And:

The Texas/Mexico border:

And that's just the canyons...

So if an illegal wants to scale a 400' cliff, you think he'll have a problem with a 30' fence?

Next post, we'll deal with the desert...

(See first post at #191)

If you don’t think that a good use of taxpayers' money is to fence the canyons...how exactly do you disagree with "strategic" fencing of the Texas border?

Even FURTHER, if you haven’t been to South Texas, you might not be able to wrap your minds around the vast, desolate expanse of certain parts of this state.

There are places where the view is only limited by the curvature of the earth. Someone with binoculars/a spotting scope could see folks coming for 15 or 20 MILES!

(Uhm...think "boots on the ground...")

See the below pic of the Chichuahuan Desert:

Or here:

And please, please, please don't try to compare building the border fence to the building of the Great Wall of China...unless

1) You're willing to give up private property rights (your own?),

2) Recognize that that wall took over several hundred years to build, and

3) That we're NOT CHINA!

Now...you're King. You get to say. What do we do?

Can you get this built like you want, without using Texans' money...or maybe, just maybe, do you have to figure out some other, more effective way to get the results faster?

Can we mostly stop saying "Just build the fence!", now? Or get New Hampshire and Massachusetts and Idaho and everybody else in the U.S. to kick in to pay for it?

But can we at least quit blaming Texas for not doing it? And can we quit bitching at the one candidate who's actually BEEN on this border?

Doing it ain't as easy as wanting it. And it sure isn't as easy as posting on a thread...or even as easy as throwing stones in a debate.

Flame on.