Great Wall of Texas (border wall)

The proposed “Great Wall of Texas” is a border wall to prevent illegal immigration from Mexico. The name borrows from the famous Great Wall of China.
 
In the 1980s, a Great Wall of Texas Society organized to keep out the real undesirables—Okies and Yankees. Another 2007-2008 nickname for the border wall with Mexico is “Frankenfence.”
   
     
Wikipedia: Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China (literally “The long wall of 10,000 Li”) is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in China, built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire during the rule of successive dynasties. Several walls, referred to as the Great Wall of China, were built since the 5th century BC, the most famous being the one built between 220 BC and 200 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. That wall was much farther north than the current wall, built during the Ming Dynasty, and little of it remains.
 
The Great Wall is the world’s longest human-made structure, stretching over approximately 6,400 km (4,000 miles) from Shanhai Pass in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. It is also the largest human-made structure ever built in terms of surface area and mass. 
   
No Texas Border Wall
Two weeks before the 2006 midterm elections, President Bush signed the Secure Fence Act into law. It states that “the Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide for at least 2 layers of reinforced fencing, the installation of additional physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors,” along up to 850 miles of the United States’ southern border. Walls have already been built in parts of California and Arizona. According to a report commissioned by Congress, the border walls have had no impact on the number of immigrants who are in the United States illegally. The walls have already done tremendous damage, and the construction of hundreds more miles will magnify that damage. NO BORDER WALL opposes the construction of the walls called for by the Secure Fence Act, and urges Congress to repeal it immediately and halt construction.   
 
29 November 1985, New York Times, “New Motto For Texas: Fence Me In,” pg. A20:
DALLAS, Nov. 28—When the ancient Chinese wanted to protect themselves from invading hordes, they built the Great Wall.
 
Kenny Bob Parsons of Dallas wants to protect his homeland from the hordes of “foreign-thinking” Yankees who prefer white wine to Lone Star beer. And Kenny Bob Parsons is planning his own wall, a Great Wall of Texas.
(...)
More than a few Texans have stood up to join him. The Great Wall of Texas Society, founded by Mr. Parsons four years ago, has attracted 2,500 members and raised $35,000 for construction of a wall around 3,449 miles of the land border of Texas. This would be more than twice the length of the Chinese Wall, “because everything’s big in Texas,” Mr. Parsons said. It would be 40 feet high and 40 feet wide, on the order of the Chinese wall.
 
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From: “ramalane”
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 17:01:39 -0400
Local: Mon, Sep 16 2002 5:01 pm
Subject: Re: Funny names again
 
Nowadays the only thing that Texas has going for it is there plan to build the Great Wall of Texas around their border. And I like this idea for two reasons:
   
1)  It will keep Texas riff-raff there, and,
 
2) They started the wall on their northern border knowing that it was important to keep them damn yankees out first. 
     
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From: old hoodoo
Date: Thu, 01 Dec 2005 21:28:03 -0600
Local: Thurs, Dec 1 2005 11:28 pm
Subject: Re: Mexico says to fight U.S. plan for border wall
 
The Great Wall of Texas…now that would be something GBII could hang his hat on.
 
Would put a lot of people to work and bring a lot mo’ pork to Texas!!
 
Also a ton of tourists!
 
I’ll bet republican contractors would hire illegal aliens to build it.
 
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From: old hoodoo

Date: Sat, 03 Dec 2005 13:38:24 -0600
Local: Sat, Dec 3 2005 3:38 pm
Subject: The Great Wall of Texas!
 
I am fascinated by the idea of a Great Wall of Texas to keep out illegal aliens/undocumented workers.
 
What is really great is if you extend it to California it will be longer than the great wall of China.  However, the name of the wall will remain the Great Wall of Texas in honor of President G. W. Bush
who sort of comes from Texas. GWT = GWB
 
The wall will be canceled if Californias insist that their states name will be given to the wall. Texans absolutely will not stand for it.     
 
Austinist
December 16, 2005
The Great Wall of Texas
 
Washington - In an effort to “shut down” illegal immigration, the House has called for contruction of a 700-mile wall along parts of the U.S. border, including parts of Texas. The proposal was offered as an amendment to the immigration bill, which passed 260-159. The barrier will stretch from the Pacific Coast to the Gulf of Mexico, with priority being placed on the crossing around Laredo. Both sides of the political “fence” will debate the amendment, but you shouldn’t be surprised if a huge barricade becomes part of the scenic drive to Mexico.
 
National Public Radio
Plans for 20-Foot Border Wall Rile Texas Residents
by Wade Goodwyn
 
All Things Considered, June 15, 2007 · Business leaders, farmers, politicians and environmentalists — almost everyone in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley is opposed to the federal government’s plan to build a wall along a 135-mile stretch of the state’s border with Mexico.
 
About 70 miles of the wall will be built through the Rio Grande Valley, and residents say it will change the character of their communities, disturb wildlife habitats and have an impact on the region’s economy.
 
Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas says Valley residents are indignant, and believe Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff misled them.
 
“On February 21, we met with director Chertoff in Laredo, and we told him firsthand of what we thought of the wall, and we told him it was not necessary. And he answered and said, ‘You’re right. We may need it in Arizona and New Mexico, but the Rio Grande River is a structure we need to work with,’” Salinas says.
 
Salinas says business and political leaders from the Rio Grande Valley were thrilled with Chertoff’s response — that a virtual wall, consisting of cameras, sensors and boots on the ground was a viable alternative to a real wall.