Texan county, feds finalize deal on border barrier

There may be some indecision at Homeland Security over what will be done with the “virtual border fence” along the Arizona-Mexico border. Yet the U.S. government reached a final deal with the Texan county of Hidalgo over their plans for a border barrier.

The $113.9 million project will stretch along 22 miles of the Rio Grande and will include a physical wall and a system of levees. The federal government will pay nearly $66 million and construction is estimated to start in two months.

Both the feds and local officials feel that the project will tackle concerns over illegal immigration and flood control. Yet some Hidalgo County businesses have mixed feelings:

Tony Domit, president of Domit Construction and Development…[said that] there were good intentions behind the decision to break the project down into segments to give local companies a shot at being able to afford the smaller projects. But he doubted if a local company could handle even one segment because of the amount of credit required to back the financing…

“It’s impressive. My view: a waste of money by the federal government, but we are going to get a part of that waste down here.”

Image- KVEO

Sources- New York Times, The Monitor, The Latin Americanist