Marines build wall at New Mexico-Mexico border

[thedrifter]

July 03, 2003

Marines build wall at New Mexico-Mexico border

Associated Press

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. ? A section of chain-link fence along the U.S.-Mexican border in an area known for illegal crossings is being replaced with a sheet metal wall similar to ones used in California and Arizona.
Wednesday, U.S. Border Patrol agents and Mexican mounted police watched over six Marines who will spend about 30 days welding two-tenths of a mile of new panels in place.

The chain-link fence has constantly been torn up with man-sized holes since it was erected in 1996, officials said. Patching it has been a never ending task.

?You?ll see some pieces of our fence in houses on the Mexican side, being used as building material,? said Rudy Karisch, assistant patrol agent in charge.

The area has been troubled by vandals and robbers who steal from trains in the United States.

During a September sting operation to catch some of the robbers, two FBI agents were dragged through the fence in Anapra and beaten. Border Patrol agents say they have been hit by rocks while making their rounds.

The Department of Defense donated the interlocking panels, which were used as makeshift landing strips in the Korean and Vietnam wars. Cutting through them would require several hacksaw blades and climbing over is nearly impossible.

The panels are to be installed on a stretch of the border that runs up a slope and can?t easily be observed by agents, said Maj. Al Riera, an engineer planner for Joint Task Force 6, known as JTF-6.

The task force, which lends military personnel to anti-drug initiatives around the nation, is paying for the project. Eleven miles west of Columbus, more JTF-6 troops are putting up vehicle barrier posts. The two projects have a common budget of $75,000, officials said.






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Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.





Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Damian Jones of El Paso, Texas, points to a spot along the border fence that separates New Mexico and Mexico, during an inspection by Army Maj. Al Riera of Joint Task Force 6. ? Victor Calzada / El Paso Times / AP


Sempers,

Roger