Congressional hearing in Valley to study border fence

"It will do a great deal of good to have these legislators down there to see first-hand the imminent threat it poses for us," he said. "We want them to see the effect it will have on border communities, particularly on the economy of the area. We have many jobs that depend on businesses along the border, as well as the wildlife refuge that generates some $125 million each year."

Ahumada hopes the members of the U.S. Congress will see that there is a different way. "We want to show them what we can do with our geography, and the use of virtual fences to accomplish the same thing," he said. "We believe that with the cooperation of all law enforcement, we can deal with illegal immigration and crime along the border."

One project Ahumada said would serve the same function is to dam a portion of the river near Brownsville, which would raise the level of the Rio Grande to 42 feet along a several-mile stretch, making it navigable by speedboats and much more difficult to cross illegally.

Officials along the border are particularly upset over DHS's suspension of 36 laws and regulations to get the wall completed. The Texas Border Coalition (TBC), which represents cities and counties from El Paso to Brownsville, agreed last week to join a class action lawsuit against the plans to build the fence. The coalition has hired Peter Schey, president of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles and an expert in constitutional law.

TBC Chair and Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster said the omnibus bill passed by Congress last year called for consultation on cultural, economic and environmental aspects. Foster said that Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff has stepped on 36 federal rules relating to the environment and there are major concerns over what may be done to the culture and the economics.

Local border officials' assertions that the same result as the wall can be reached with virtual fences or electronic surveillance systems took a major hit last week when Chertoff canceled a test of the virtual fence program. DHS announced it is scrapping a $20 million prototype of its highly touted virtual fence on the Arizona-Mexico border because the system is failing to adequately alert border patrol agents to illegal crossings.

The move comes just two months after Chertoff announced his approval of the fence built by The Boeing Co. The fence consists of nine electronic surveillance towers along a 28-mile section of border southwest of Tucson.

A DHS official said, however, that the Arizona system was canceled because of specific operational problems, and it did not preclude the agency from using a different system in other areas of the border.

Meanwhile, federal officials have begun buying land along the border, or preparing eminent domain cases against landholders - the final step before beginning construction of a border fence.

In order to construct 700 miles of fencing by the end of 2008, the Army Corps of Engineers must first purchase land from several hundred South Texas landowners. Some are resisting selling their land, sending their cases to a federal judge for a ruling.

However, most landowners said they were resigned to losing their property and did not want a protracted legal battle that they believe they would lose anyway.