"MEXICO" To Build Wall To Discourage Illegal Crossings

Mexico plans to create an environmental reserve about 30 feet wide and 600 miles long on the Texas border to discourage illegal crossings. Backers say the "green wall" is meant to protect the Rio Grande from the roads and staging areas that smugglers use to ferry drugs and migrants into the U-S. The proposed Rio Bravo del Norte Natural Monument would connect two large protected areas south of the river. When a third nature reserve, known as Ocampo, is created this year, the protected areas in Mexico will form a "wall" of wilderness.The government proposal was made public today -- starting a 30-day comment period. The area would match the Texas Big Bend parks foot-by-foot along the border. Big Bend National Park superintendent John King says extending protected areas on either side of the border will likely keep the problem from getting worse.