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| Federal Government to Open "Un-Manned" Border Crossing |
| 2011-01-30 |
| A U.S.-Mexico border crossing in Texas' Big Bend National Park that was once popular among U.S. tourists and Mexican shoppers will re-open in April 2012. Alan Bersin, U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner, said construction on a National Park Service information center at the eastern border of the national park will begin this summer, the San Antonio Express-News reports. It will link the area to the town of Boquillas del Carmen across the Rio Grande River. The unmanned port of entry will be monitored by immigration officials hundreds of miles away. U.S. citizens will scan their passports and the identity of Mexican nationals will be biometrically confirmed, NPR reports. The "informal" crossing, which closed for security reasons after 9/11, was once popular among Big Bend visitors, who would take a boat across a shallow portion of the river to Boquillas for beer, tacos and maybe a burro ride. The town has lost much of its population in the nine years since the border closure. But Big Bend superintendent Bill Wellman told the Express-News he believes the crossing will attract visitors interested in tours of the Maderas del Carmen Protected Area on the Mexican side, along with hot springs and an abandoned mine. A park concessionaire will operate a cross-border ferry. Bersin said the crossing will not threaten U.S. homeland security. "People who act criminally will act criminally regardless (of whether) there's a lawful crossing here," Bersin said. Speaking on NPR, Rick Lobello, education coordinator at the El Paso Zoo, said, "Â… I think it's great news for the people of Mexico in that area, for Big Bend National Park, for ecotourism, and for the hopes of an international park some day." |
| Posted by:Flaise Gleque7242 |
| #17 Doesn't look very rosy right now does it Joseph Mendiola? I want the 2012 campaign to start now so candidates can rip into Big Zero for two full years, starting now. The have plenty to talk about. |
| Posted by: Cheans Oppressor of the Veal Cutlets9081 2011-01-30 21:50 |
| #16 E.g. FOX NEWS AM > ANTI-MUBARAK PROTESTORS in Los Angeles, CA > one of them held up a large personal protest sign which said "THE US CAN'T DO ANYTHING ANYMORE". Just sayin. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-01-30 21:34 |
| #15 The US likely won't suffer like the UK or Sweden for a long time yet - THE GREATER DANGER TO US INTERESTS IS US MILFORS BEING "OUT OF THEATER" WHEN MAJOR CONFLICTS DO BREAK OUT, + LACK OF READY MATERIEL = WAR RESERVES, ETC. DUE TO THE "BIGGER-N-LONGER-THAN-1929/GREAT DEPRESSION" GLOBAL ECONOMIC DOWNTURN. The Econ-troubled, "Weak/Declining" US "CAN'T" OR "WON'T" INTERVENE anymore widout NATO-EU, UNSC CONSENT + MASSIVE MIL SUPPORT??? "Globalism". |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-01-30 21:31 |
| #14 WAFF > [StrategyPage] SWEDEN RUNS OUT OF [prof regular = frontline] SOLDIERS. What Sweden has are mainly in Mil Reserves. Better or worse than the UK = Great Britain??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-01-30 21:22 |
| #13 Monitored hundreds of miles away...certainly from 9-5...what could go wrong? |
| Posted by: Muggsy Glink 2011-01-30 18:29 |
| #12 I wonder if this is the same crossing featured in Nevada Barr's Borderline. (Nothing to do with anything; I was just wondering. It sounds like it.) |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2011-01-30 16:28 |
| #11 If it is the crossing I think it is, it was silly to ever close it in the first place. I took the litle boat across the river - could have just taken my shoes off and walked - and walked into the little town and bought lunch at a (the) little restaurant there (with non-corn-syrup coke!), and bought some stones from a boy on a burro and smuggled them back into the country. It was not and will not be a prime location for smuggling or illegal immigration - way too public, and far from anything else on either side. (We did see obviously illegal crossings, but not there, and even those were pretty benign - looked like a family getting together for Easter & smuggling in deposit pop bottles and used car parts.) |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2011-01-30 11:49 |
| #10 "It will be interesting to see how NPS handles the first drug transport killing in or around the park." Simple, NS - they'll place all the blame on the American citizen who was careless enough to get shot by the |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2011-01-30 11:26 |
| #9 No Problem. After all Visa Express was such a success wasn't it? The person who came up with the idea even got a big fat award and promotion. So what if 3,000 innocent people died as a result. (yes... I think I do need a /SARC tag...) |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2011-01-30 10:47 |
| #8 It will be interesting to see how NPS handles the first drug transport killing in or around the park. This park is utilized like the Great Smokey Mountains, not so much for its special natural wonders but as a recreation park for locals. Texans won't be happy to feel threatened in thier playground. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2011-01-30 10:22 |
| #7 Vigilantism arises when government is unable or unwilling to provide the basics of security. It is a symptom not an underlying pathology. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-01-30 09:32 |
| #6 The Obama "Backdoor Amnesty" Plan |
| Posted by: Goodluck 2011-01-30 09:00 |
| #5 Back when W. Bush first opened up the illegal alien can of worms in a big sort of way, there was a running gag that those powerful businessmen who made fortunes from illegal alien labor, and so, vehemently opposed any limits on illegal entry at all, had a racist saying: "The Spics must flow!" Seriously, they approached the debate from the point of view that it threatened their wealth, and so they lobbied and fought long and hard, spending the big bills, while the anti-illegal immigration movement just tried to argue. And that will never be a contest in Washington. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-01-30 08:36 |
| #4 How fuckin stupid are these people? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2011-01-30 00:47 |
| #3 Crossing to reopen April 2012? That should give the Mexican government plenty of time to print up and distribute lotsa maps to the Great Bend crossing. Very thoughtful of us don't you think? |
| Posted by: GK 2011-01-30 00:42 |
| #2 "monitored by immigration officials hundreds of miles away" This should end well. /s |
| Posted by: tipover 2011-01-30 00:32 |
| #1 Feds must be running out of bi-linguals needed to frisk Americans at TSA checkpoints. |
| Posted by: wr 2011-01-30 00:22 |