RGV City Mayor Reacts to Recent Immigration Memos
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LOS INDIOS - A Rio Grande Valley mayor said with the planning stage for a wall underway, he hopes the job gets done in his area.
President Trump approved a memorandum for more border wall construction and funding on Monday. The memorandum called for an immediate plan and design of a wall.
Los Indios Mayor Rick Cavazos said the local stretch of the border fence is missing some key parts. He said the gates in his town are gaps.
“If these gaps aren’t secure then they’re going to continue to be exploited by the smugglers,” he said.
CHANNEL 5 NEWS reported on these gaps in Los Indios last week. We also showed Cavazos the memorandum.
“Based on what I’m reading from that memo that they’re going to continue to allocate money to complete some of these projects, and hope that at least for this particular area and this community, they complete the project,” he said.
Cavazos, a former Border Patrol supervisor, said the fence works for his community.
“If used smartly and strategically, it can definitely be an effective tool, particularly where you have areas of the river that are no more than say 100 yards from neighborhoods,” he said. “We can all agree that the immigration system in this country is broken and so the question is, will the border wall solve all the immigration problems in the U.S.? The answer is no.”
DHS agreed to add more patrol, access roads, lighting and technology including sensors. However, the report stated it will only work in locations along the border where they will be useful.
“What’s happening now, what’s happened in the past is that this becomes a funnel point, and the smugglers will exploit these gaps until they’re completely secure,” he said.
Cavazos hopes his city gets what it needs. He wants funding allocated to the Los Indios area also.
The Secretary for Management and Commissioner of CBP will be responsible for the allocation of funds. They will prepare the congressional budget requests for the current and future fiscal years.
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