Editorial: North of the Rio Grande

Monday, May 7, 2007 | 7:14 a.m.

The folks in the Rio Grande Valley town of McAllen, Texas, could teach immigration hard-liners in Congress and the Bush administration plenty about immigration and the economy - if they would only listen.

Despite what McAllen officials say were assurances to the contrary, the Bush administration is planning to build a fence and vehicle barriers along 153 miles of the Texas border, including the Rio Grande in and around McAllen. City officials say the Homeland Security Department had led them to believe there would be a "virtual" fence of surveillance cameras and border patrols because a real fence would cut off access to the river for wildlife, recreation or farmers who use the river to irrigate crops.

So much for promises.

In our post-9/11 world, it is, of course, vitally important that our borders are made secure and terrorists are kept at bay, but is the fence really designed to thwart terrorists trying to destroy the American dream or Mexicans trying to grab a piece of it?

McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez said he does not think a wall will stop people who desperately want to be here, like those he has seen form human ladders and jump off bridges to get into the United States.

The issue, he said, is one of basic economics.

"We have integrated all of the markets in North America, but we have failed to integrate the labor market," Cortez said. "It's the market forces that are bringing people here to work."

Americans should be considering how to add to the country's economic engine by expanding legal immigration. That should be part of comprehensive immigration reform, which should include better enforcement of our borders and a path to citizenship for those illegal immigrants already here who have not harmed anyone.

Instead, those taking a hard line on immigration reform, and who want to wall off the country from the "illegals," are trying to keep out Mexicans who spend money, pay taxes and work jobs in America that otherwise might go unfilled.

How does that make sense?