Chairman

Mayor Chad Foster

City of Eagle Pass

Vice-Chairman
Pat Townsend, Jr.
Mission EDA

Treasurer
Eddie Aldrete
IBC Bank

Executive Committee
November 7, 2008
Mayor Pat Ahumada
City of Brownsville

Mayor Efrain Valdez

City of Del Rio

Mayor John F. Cook Mr. David Pagan

City of El Paso Advisor to the Commissioner
Mayor Chris Boswell
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
City of Harlingen 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20229
Mayor Raul G. Salinas
City of Laredo
Dear Mr. Pagan:
Mayor Richard Cortez
City of McAllen
Thank you for your letter on November concerning the Texas Border Coalition’s
Mayor Kevin Hiles (TBC) continued efforts to secure the cooperation of the U.S. Customs and Border
City of Rio Grande
Protection Bureau (CBP) in walking the line of proposed border fence locations in
Mayor Norberto Salinas Texas.
City of Mission

Mayor Rogelio Ybarra TBC believes that consultation with the local community where you plan to
City of Roma construct the border fence is an essential element of open governance. Obviously,
Mayor John David Franz landowners and those living near the border fence need to know where you plan to
City of Hidalgo build and restrict access to their homes and land. We support the rights of
Judge Jose Aranda, Jr. landowners to know what your plans are and to suggest measures to reduce the
Maverick County impact of the fence. We are dumbfounded by the CBP’s continued to resistance to
Judge Carlos H. Cascos
consultation with local landowners and the community, and by CBP’s unjustifiable
Cameron County demands for secrecy to prevent the public from learning your intentions.
Judge J.D. Salinas
Hidalgo County As you know, TBC first proposed a series of community consultations in December
2007, based on the U.S. Congress and President George Bush enacting statutory
Committee Chairs
requirements that the Secretary of Homeland Security consult with “local
governments, Indian tribes, and property owners in the United States to minimize
Raul Salinas the impact on the environment, culture, commerce, and quality of life for the
Transportation
communities and residents located near the sites at which such fencing is to be
Jose Rodriguez constructed.” We have repeatedly attempted to schedule consultations, including
Healthcare
events to walk the line, only to be rejected by the Department of Homeland Security
Blas Castaneda and the CBP because of unfounded government fears that we sought to veto fence
Workforce Development locations and because we sued the government in order to enforce the law.
Monica Stewart
Immigration The CBP’s November 4 demands that walk the line consultation specifically
Mission: prohibit landowner participation is categorically unacceptable. The CBP
To make Legislative suggestion that any discussions “will be difficult” should any opposition to the
recommendations to help
the Texas Border Region
grow and prosper 100 S. Monroe St. Eagle Pass, TX 78852 P: 830-773-1111 F: 830-773-9170
economically.
fence be raised is inappropriately thin-skinned. The TBC would never presume to restrict the
ability of the community or its leadership to voice its concerns that the fence won’t work, is
lethal to Americans and wildlife and will eventually be torn down. The idea that attorneys
representing landowners be expressly prohibited from walking the line when the government’s
legal actions threaten the rights and liberties of landowners violates the concept of the right to
counsel embodied in the Bill of Rights.

If it is the CBP’s insistence that you will walk the line and discuss the border fence’s location
only with TBC members, we will accommodate your demands by making every landowner on
the border fence members of the TBC. We will not retreat from our insistence that the
government consult with our communities and landowners to “to minimize the impact on the
environment, culture, commerce, and quality of life” as the law requires.

With only 53 days remaining before your fence construction deadline expires, please stop the
pretense of cooperation and answer us yes or no. Will you comply with the law and engage in
an open consultation with the local communities over where the government’s plans to build
the border fence, including with landowners whose property you seek to seize, in a way that
respects their rights?

Sincerely,

William K. Moore
The Texas Border Coalition

About the Texas Border Coalition

The Texas Border Coalition (TBC) is a collective voice of border mayors, county judges, economic development
commissions focused on issues that affect more than 6 million people along the Texas-Mexico border region and
economically disadvantaged counties from El Paso to Brownsville. TBC is working closely with the state and

100 S. Monroe St. Eagle Pass, TX 78852 P: 830-773-1111 F: 830-773-9170

federal government to educate, advocate, and secure funding for transportation, immigration and ports of entry,
workforce and education and health care. For more information, visit the coalition Web site at
www.texasbordercoaltion.org.

100 S. Monroe St. Eagle Pass, TX 78852 P: 830-773-1111 F: 830-773-9170