The area being discussed below is an area that is 50-70 miles north of the Mexican Border. Yet it is a highly militarized area with La Migra's intimidating presence constantly felt. It is a semi-war zone of sorts, and always a depressing experience to drive through as one leaves the Border northward to Corpus Christi, and onwards toward Houston. The constant presence of high tech sensoring equipment mounted high above the highways, and the use of local police all over the highway as auxiliary to immigration agents is part of the scene. But hidden away from view to most people, is the actual environmental damage that INS does in sensitive wildlife zones, and also even in the ranches where the land is already partially degraded. And of course, there is the constant murder of immigrants as they try to make their way north through dangerous terrain. Immigration makes that terrain just enough more inhospitable, that pushes some over the margin of being able to survive. Tony ________________________________ INS still weighing ranch's proposal By Alison Gregor Express-News Rio Grande Bureau A feud that got the Border Patrol banned from the sprawling Kenedy Ranch by owners still seethes with no resolution on the sun-baked horizon. Six weeks ago, the John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation, which owns half of the 400,000-acre ranch, extended terms for an agreement to let the Border Patrol back on its isolated grazing lands to search for undocumented immigrants. The Border Patrol has not officially responded to the demands. "They're apparently trying to put restrictions on us, and that's not something we'll accept," said Ramiro De Anda, a spokesman for the Border Patrol's McAllen Sector. Among others, the restrictions include limiting patrols to established ranch roads and reimbursing the foundation for a grass fire blamed for $30,000 in damage. Tim Counts, an Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman in Dallas, said negotiations with the Kenedy foundation are ongoing. The Corpus Christi-based foundation banned the Border Patrol from its ranchland in March after, in separate incidents, two men were struck by agency vehicles while crouching in the long grass. Undocumented immigrants heading north from the U.S.-Mexico border use the ranch's empty stretches to skirt an immigration checkpoint just south of Sarita. Undocumented immigrants die every year in Kenedy County because of dehydration, snakebites and other hazards. Border Patrol agents maintain they are saving lives by searching the forbidding terrain, but foundation members complain of human rights violations and property destruction. The federal agency was kicked off the ranch temporarily four years ago because of fires and other damage attributed to its agents. A memorandum of agreement eventually enabled the Border Patrol to start patrolling again. Foundation lawyer Richard Leshin said the same type of agreement was extended to the Border Patrol six weeks ago, but he wouldn't reveal the terms. "Things have not changed, but what we have put on the table is a proposal to the Border Patrol, and if they accept it, they will be allowed back on," he said. In any case, the Border Patrol has the right to go on the ranchland in instances where suspected undocumented immigrants flee onto the property, De Anda said. Whether the Border Patrol ever begins patrolling again, that access will continue, he said. Entry to the ranch was negotiated because under the law the government can patrol open lands within 25 miles of a U.S. boundary. The Border Patrol argues the Gulf Coast is such a boundary, giving it access to the Kenedy Ranch. Several months ago, the federal government warned that the foundation's lands could be seized if agents weren't permitted back on the ranch, said Leshin, who added, "We dispute that." De Anda said there has been no movement to seize the ranch, but the FBI contacted the foundation regarding the matter. He said the Border Patrol has tried to work with the Kenedy foundation and will continue to do so. "The agents try to stay on the established roads," he said. "They don't go cross-country. ... At one time, we were using diesel vehicles to keep the catalytic converters from starting grass fires." For now, the Kenedy County sheriff and ranching tenants are keeping watch over the Kenedy Ranch. Fears of a flood of undocumented immigrants onto the Kenedy Ranch have not been borne out, though apprehensions at the Sarita checkpoint are down 28 percent. That may be due to the Border Patrol's Operation Rio Grande, an all-out effort to throttle undocumented immigration south of the ranch, De Anda said. "Apprehensions in the entire McAllen Sector are down 20 percent, and in Harlingen, they're down 42 percent," he said. One ironic twist may be fewer dehydration deaths on the ranch, Leshin said. "What we have noticed is that the illegal aliens are traveling more along the water troughs and wells," he said. "So they're able to get access to the water, while they were not able to prior to this time, because the Border Patrol was out there." So far this year, seven undocumented immigrants have died crossing Kenedy County. Last year, 12 immigrants were found dead in its brush lands _______________________________________________ Crashlist resources: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/crashlist
