"Once-popular golf course falls victim to controversial border wall, drug cartel battles"

Thanks to reader Daniel for this sadder-than-normal golf course closure story from Brownsville, Texas, where the historic Fort Brown Memorial has been closed in what its owner Robert Lucio says is a product of the border debate, drug cartel battles in Mexico and a temporary fence installed across the Rio Grande Valley.

Aaron Nelsen reports.

Yet the demise of Lucio’s business is seen by observers as a poignant reminder of the enduring effect the fence has had on border communities, especially as leading Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has rekindled the contentious debate with his proposal to continue building a wall along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico.

“I think it’s really unfortunate that the community’s recreational spaces were sacrificed for a symbolic effort to look tough on immigration,” said Denise Gilman, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law and a member of the UT Working Group on Human Rights and the Border Wall. “It takes its toll on people’s psyche.”

Laid on the ruins of Fort Brown, the 6,000-yard, 165-acre course debuted in the 1950s as a reasonably priced alternative to the Brownsville country club. It quickly became the training ground for generations of Brownsville golfers, including Lucio, and home to the Pan American Golf Association, which promoted the sport in the impoverished and predominantly Hispanic community.