In Texas, businesses on edge over fence

"Most of our land goes up to what's supposed to be the border, and yes, we need access to river water," Leal said.

President Bush signed a law Thursday to erect more fencing along the border to secure it against illegal immigrants, drug smugglers, and terrorists. Republicans in Congress see it as their most significant accomplishment on immigration.

But up and down Texas's watery boundary with Mexico, farmers, ranchers, and business owners are worried a fence will endanger their livelihoods and encroach on their property.

Texas landowners -- sick of illegal immigrants cutting their fences, stealing, and trespassing, and tired of worrying about smugglers of humans and drugs endangering their families -- have been demanding for years that Congress tighten the border.

But not, some say, with a double-layer $6 billion fence cutting through their land and keeping them and their livestock from the river.

"It's not going to work in Texas," said Michael Vickers, who owns a cattle ranch on the border. "Who wants to close off the river to Mexico? The river is the lifeblood for a lot of cities."

Vickers said he worries that either his land will be cut off from the rest of the state and the country or he will lose access to 50 acres of water rights he has and can sell to area municipalities for up to $2,000 an acre.

The exact route the fencing will take is not yet clear. And it is not yet known what the barrier will look like -- how tall it will be, whether it will be a solid wall or bars.

Much of the land along the Texas side of the river is privately owned, some dating back to Spanish land grants. The government's $1.2 billion "down payment" on the fencing is only a fraction of the estimated cost, which will also include the expense of compensating property owners for any land taken through eminent domain.

Environmentalists say the fence also would destroy decades of government work building up wildlife corridors to allow endangered species like ocelots and jaguarundi access to the river.

The legislation calls for one Texas section of fence extending from Del Rio to Eagle Pass and a much larger piece along the 361 river-miles from Laredo to Brownsville, where much of the border population lives.

"I could see if they put the fence in desolate areas and isolated areas, but to come down here and interfere with businesses and stuff such as mine?" said Reed, the waterfront restaurant owner.