Poisoning La Frontera

Tomorrow, the U.S. Border Patrol will unleash it's newest weapon to combat illegal entry into the US -- poisoning over 1 mile of plant life along the Rio Grande River through aerial spraying of the herbicide Imazapyr. If the $2.1 million project is deemed "successful" (¿on what terms?) it may be replicated along 130 miles of the river bank/border with Mexico. This is wrong on so many levels, it is hard to know where to begin. There's the potential of poisoning the water supply of the Texas and Mexican border towns of Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, killing wildlife or at minimum destroying wildlife habitat, and once again, making the border crossing even more dangerous for individuals who will simply find other, more dangerours ways to cross. This policy makes no environment sense, it makes no humanitarian sense and it makes no economic sense. Herbicides are not going to solve the problem of the US immigration system.

Read more about the project in the Houston Chronicle