And they are:
Bishop of Brownsville Raymundo J. Pena
Betty Perez, local land owner, member of the No Border Wall Coalition
Rosemary Jenks of Numbers USA, immigration think tank
Joan Neuhaus Schaan, Houston-Harris Homeland Security Advisory Council
Pena: “No wall is high enough or wide enough to wall out the economic forces that bring undocumented immigrants into this country.”
Perez, whose ancestors were recipients of a Spanish land grant: “The longer you hold onto the land, the more the land becomes who you are.
“The wall and levee-wall (in Hidalgo County) will devastate the Valley’s ecological corridor.”
Jenks: Shows a map of the impact of illegal immigration on the Cabeza Prieta refuge in Arizona.
“Illegal immigration turned a pristine refuge into a trash-strewn war zone.”
She shows photos of cars “often full of drugs” abandoned on the refuge.
Neuhaus Schaan: “Criminal organizations outman and outgun law enforcement.”
“Ranch owners have trouble leaving their ranches unattended.”
Q & A Time:
Grijalva addresses the bishop. “Do you think people who don’t live along the border perhaps have the wrong impression of what these border communities are?”
Pena: “I think that the sister cities that exist along the border in many respects are one city–most of them legally, some of the illegally, to visit family.
“The wall in Texas, like the one currently in Arizona, would be very destructive to our families and our businesses.”
Tancredo challenges Bishop Pena:
“Do you think a border should exist?” he asks. “A fence might be the most humane to protect that border–because it will stop rapes and murders.”
Before Pena can respond, Tancredo moves on to the next question.
Hunter also addresses Pena.
“Maybe you should talk to bishops in the San Diego area,” he said, alluding to decreases in crime after a double fence was built in his district.
