During the hearing on border security a number of people testified about their experiences on the border and their stories varied widely enough to make one wonder if they were all talking about the same Texas Mexico border.
Michael Seifert was one of the many witnesses and he gave testimony about his concerns of the growing militarization of the border. Seifert is a community activist and a longtime resident of the Rio Grande Valley.
"In my 26 years of living here I have never seen so many border patrol in my life. They are everywhere. They are doing their job. The apprehensions -- not counting the kids, that's another whole thing -- are as low as it has been since 1974. So they are doing their job (and) it's working. We are not being invaded. In fact, our concern is that this is such an overblown reaction that they are going to really hurt some crucial economic possibilities coming the valley's way over the next year. That's what scares us. We are not afraid of immigrants, we are afraid of our own people running off some really important business ventures."