Lawmakers Want To Slice Yards In Half

Ridiculous.

A map obtained by The Associated Press shows that the double- or triple-layer fence may be built as much as two miles from the river on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande, leaving parts of Granjeno and other nearby communities in a potential no-man's-land between the barrier and the water's edge.

Based on the map and what the residents have been told, the fence could run straight through houses and backyards. Some fear it could also cut farmers off from prime farmland close to the water.

"I don't sleep right because I'm worried," said Daniel Garza, a 74-year-old retiree born and raised in Granjeno. Garza said federal agents told him that the gray brick house he built just five years ago and shares with his 72-year-old wife is squarely in the fence's path.

"No matter what they offer, I don't want to move, I don't want to leave," Garza said, his eyes watering.

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Where are the voices of sanity? The ones that will defend these families who have among them centuries worth of generations that have lived in the same spot under different flags? Who will fight back against the hardliners with words instead of mere politicking?

Democrats stripped the money [for the Great Wall of America™] from the defense bill at a House-Senate negotiating committee Tuesday, leading to an outcry among Republicans.

"It is clear across the country that the American people want to secure our borders first," said Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C. "They want to enforce our laws. And this really is an amazing thing that's happened today."

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There are no prominent voices speaking out against clueless lawmakers like Dole or Fredrick of Hollywood Thompson* in such a way that silences their ignorance and hate. They are winning the noise game, and unless it is beat back forcefully, the idea of a 15-foot tall steel barrier running alongside the clothesline of families across the desert southwest remains an inevitability. The Democrats are delaying the funds due to politics - not morals - so the trust runs nearly dry here.

*sombrero tip to dada for the Thompson jab