"We've crossed it long before the United States existed,"

[SHANEA]

River draws a muddy line on Texas' unfenced border

"We've crossed it long before the United States existed," he continued. "And we'll be crossing it a long time after the United States disappears."

The new construction will leave some 630 miles along the Big Bend as the longest unfenced piece of Southern U.S. frontier.

The alliances are tangled even within Hernandez's own family: A brother has pleaded guilty to smuggling immigrants, while a nephew is applying to the Border Patrol.

Such is life along this skinny stretch of the river, where native peoples built the first settlement on the site of present-day Redford around 1200 A.D.

Local residents crossed freely with the Border Patrol's tacit permission until 2001. Following the Sept. 11 attacks, agents declared the crossing closed and blockaded its bank with a few small boulders.

The Border Patrol now plans to double its Marfa Sector agents and install vehicle barriers at 30 illegal Big Bend crossings, including Redford's. Six miles of proposed fence flanking Presidio have been postponed after construction bids came in over budget.