Groups Want ‘Virtual Fence’ for Texas

Environmentalists in south Texas said building a fence along the Mexican border to keep illegal immigrants out would threaten wildlife habitat and eco-tourism.

While final plans for the border fence haven’t been released, the advocates fear it will cut a swath through the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

From the environmental standpoint, the fence is a very, very disturbing thing, Karen Chapman, water and wildlife analyst for Environmental Defense in Brownsville, told the Express-News. You are taking the entire ecosystem and you are drawing a line through it, making it impossible to function as a whole.

Environmental groups, the Texas Produce Association and the McAllen, Texas, Chamber of Commerce wrote Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, pushing the concept of a virtual fence of cameras and sensors, the newspaper said.

Mr. Secretary, you have the power, authority and obligation to avert an economic and ecological disaster in South Texas, the groups wrote.