LETTERS
To the Editor:

Most Americans assume that the 18-foot high "fence" (which, in reality, is a wall) to keep out illegal immigrants is being built on the precise U.S.-Mexico border. Not so; it weaves in and out, and cleaves the property of Americans just as the Israeli wall does to the Palestinians. The March issue of "The Hightower Lowdown" reports: "The planned route plows through the backyards of lowand middle-class-income families of Brownsville, Texas, and miraculously stops at the ritzy River Bend Resort, a lush golf course." (thereby making one large gap.) "It picks up on the other side of the resort."

The report continues, "Further on, there is a planned gap for Sharyland Plantation, a 6,000-acre development of million-dollar homes. Sharyland is owned by billionaire oilman Ray Hunt, who donated $35 million towards Bush's presidential library. So, no wall for him." Not without irony, the "Lowdown" goes on to say, "Homeland Security's Michael Chertoff asserts that border residents must sacrifice their land, homes, businesses, heritage and peace of mind for the greater good." (Not everybody, it seems.)

A news item in the March 20 issue of the "Atlanta Journal- Constitution" revealed that a Brownsville, Texas federal judge ruled that the government must consult with two Southern Texas colleges about building the border fence (wall) on their joint campus. (Yet another gap?) In view of the exemptions previously given to the River Bend Resort and the Sharyland Plantation, it is curious that the Journal-Constitution claims, "It's the first time that a property owner in the fence controversy has won the right to be consulted ahead of government plans."

It is interesting, too, that no one has brought up the issue of American Indian reservation lands which cross into Mexico. Won't treaties between the tribes and the U.S. government prohibit any fence (wall) restricting movement to and from? (More gaps?)

Surely any self-respecting illegal immigrant is making note of all these potential breaches, and making his plan of entry, accordingly.

Sincerely, Ruth Elizabeth Ramsey