Feds to bypass laws to build border fence

[sabra]

Source: USA Today/AP

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration plans to use its authority to bypass more than 30 laws and regulations in an effort to finish building 670 miles of fence along the southwest U.S. border by the end of this year, federal officials said Tuesday.

Invoking the legal waivers — which Congress authorized — would cut through bureaucratic red tape and sidestep environmental laws that currently stand in the way of the Homeland Security Department building 267 miles of fencing in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, according to officials familiar with the plan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the waivers had not yet been announced.

The move would be the biggest use of legal waivers since the administration started building the fence. Previously, the department has used its waiver authority for two portions of fence in Arizona and one portion in San Diego.

As of March 17, there were 309 miles of fencing in place, leaving 361 to be completed by the end of the year. Of those, 267 miles are being held up by federal, state and local laws and regulations.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-04-01-border-fence_N.htm

[Demeter]

1. Just Pieces of Paper, Eh, George?

Can't wait until you are on the wrong side of the pen and ink. In the Clink.

[atreides1]

2. George asked, Congress delivered

Congress authorized this and it was the Repukes who were in control at the time. Of course they had the willing assistance of Democrats who were more concerned with looking macho then with adhering to the laws that were in place.

Personally I'd rather see certain members of congress in the clink, along with Bush and his cabal.

[Demeter]

3. The More, the Merrier!

They're all such good buddies, they should spend the rest of their lives together, squabling over favors from the guards.

[saigon68]

19. Yes the DLC minions stood up

As the Bush Cabal stood down and voted the $$$$$

I wonder how much Halliburton made?

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. The fence is being gerrymandered..

if that is the right word.
Somewhere a bit ago, I read that while your average 'Merican had no say if the fence went thru his property, the fence would zig and zag to avoid the more deserving rich man property..
sorry can't find the source..

anyone???

[Popol Vuh]

8. Here you go Dixiegrrrrl

Homeland Security Won't Explain Why the Mexican Border Wall Bypasses the Rich and Connected

As the U.S. Department of Homeland Security marches down the Texas border serving condemnation lawsuits to frightened landowners, Brownsville resident Eloisa Tamez, 72, has one simple question. She would like to know why her land is being targeted for destruction by a border wall, while a nearby golf course and resort remain untouched.

http://www.alternet.org/story/77320/

[Javaman]

5. So is this fense being built to keep people from getting in or us getting out? nt

[Hydra]

18. Neither

There are holes in the fence, so IMO, it's being built to waste our money.

I'm right with you in one regard, though. Someone I know was turned back from a flight to Whistler because of a misdemeanor on his record...

Why are they trying so hard to keep us in with all of this "enhanced security" rather than keeping other people out?

[bean fidhleir]

6. Just what the world needs: a third Schandmauer

("Wall of Shame", the name the Germans gave The Wall that split Berlin)

[Barrett808]

20. Also known as the "Tortilla Curtain". n/t

[High Plains]

7. The law is only for us peons.

[seafan]

9. Border fence will skirt environmental laws (US-Mexico)

Source: LA Times

WASHINGTON -- In an aggressive move to finish building 670 miles of border fence by the end of this year, the Department of Homeland Security announced today that it will waive federal environmental laws to meet that goal.
The two waivers, which will allow the department to slash through a thicket of environmental and cultural laws, would be the most expansive to date, encompassing land in California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas that stretches about 470 miles.

The waivers are highly controversial with environmentalists and border communities, which see them as a federal imposition that could damage the land and disrupts wildlife.
But they are praised by conservatives who championed the 2006 Secure Fence Act, despite the reluctance of President Bush, who has said a broader approach is needed to deal with illegal immigration.

.....

Brian Segee, an attorney with Defenders of Wildlife, said, "It's dangerous, it's arrogant, it's going to have pronounced environmental impacts and it won't do a thing to address the problems of undocumented immigrants or address border security problems. It's an incredibly simplistic and ineffective approach to complex problems."

.....

Congress gave Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff the power to waive federal law in order to build the fence quickly. Since construction began, the department has faced fierce opposition from local communities and has had to go to court against more than 50 property owners simply to survey land to determine whether it is suitable for a fence.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fence2apr02,1,1754887.story

[muntrv]

10. It's the employer, stupid. But for employers who want to pay slave wages,

the Mexicans would not be crossing the border.

[mac2]

12. I hear you but do they?

[xioaping]

21. Many employers are themselves here illegally

They own satelite tv sales and installation companies with full work crews, restaurants, tax service franchises, you name the business. And they are making a very good incomes, many in six figures.

The point is, the situation is no longer a case of U.S. employers higher Mexican and other foreign nationals in the U.S. illegally for just menial labor. They are they employers themselves.

[mac2]

11. You wouldn't need a fence but security cameras

We have satellites, etc. Punish the people who hire illegals from anywhere.

I agree with Hillary on this point about the fence being a bad idea.

I don't agree with those in Congress to do amnesty (only encourages illegals). They promised us they would close the borders after the last amnesty. Why would we trust them to enforce anything at this point. Their Americas Union is a slap on the face.

[seafan]

13. 'Organized civil disobedience is in the works.'

This may be Chertoff's last stand.

By Jay J. Johnson-Castro, Sr.
Narco News

March 31, 2008

It has come to the attention of the Border Ambassadors network that Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff is once again planning to exercise his dictatorial powers under the Real ID Act. Such a waiver, if filed, would encompass the Continental U.S., specifically from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. That would encompass the entire US-Mexico border.

If such a waiver were filed this week and published in the Federal Registry, the waiver would immediately go into effect for already funded activities. Chertoff & Company would then be set to build the border wall any where along the US-Mexico border they choose. Recognizing that the public might get wind of this, the filing might get delayed or submitted in more than one filing.

What would that mean to all the efforts, litigation and court mandated negotiation in Texas? The Texas portion of the border, along the banks of the Rio Grande, would come under assault. While legally, Chertoff would be able to proceed, he will do cause something that this country has not ever experienced in the modern era. He will set in motion a galvanization of the border community all along the entire 1250 miles of the Rio Grande corridor. Such a galvanization will be welcomed and embraced by folks all along the New Mexico, Arizona and California border regions. That in turn will galvanize concerned citizens who believe in human dignity, who value liberty and justice, people of moral conscience all across America.

Here in Texas, environmentalists, economists, historians, tourism experts, Indigenous groups, immigration rights groups, veterans groups, the academic community, faith based groups, law enforcement officials, even Border Patrol, legal experts, the Farm Workers, city councils, mayors, county commissions, county judges, Texas legislators, Texas US Congressmen, the local media, the business community, wildlife refuges, local, county, state and national parks. There will be a solidifying of alliance and solidarity, the likes of which this the living generations of this country have rarely if ever seen. The Boston Tea Party would pale in contrast.

On the Dr. Eloisa Tamez case, and others like it, District Judge Andrew Hanen ruled that Chertoff was negligent in communicating let alone negotiating with property owners along the Rio Grande before he sued them to take their lands. The media has well documented that the wealthy property owners will not have a wall cut through their property, but the quiet communities that have existed for centuries will be victims of the rich and powerful as well as the racist supremacists. If the judicial voice of reason like that of Judge Hanen is not respected or honored by Chertoff, then it becomes apparent that courts cannot protect the people from such an imbalance and abuse of powers. The next legal recourse would be before the Supreme Court, a challenge that the Sierra Club and the Defenders of Wildlife has already filed.

Meanwhile, organized civil disobedience is in the works. The people all along the banks of the Rio Grand will become a far greater challenge for Chertoff and the ICE Company. Will he be prepared to arrest honest Americans? Will the State of Texas allow him to arrest honest Texans who do not want an “iron curtain” on Texas soil? Will the US Congress and the Bush Administration permit the world to witness the leader of the free world silence the voices of a free people on American soil? Chertoff, and those who pull his strings, do well to drop this flagrant abusive strategy. His “Mother of all Waivers” will only further galvanize “We the people” into a formidable solidarity against domestic tyranny and government sponsored terrorism. It will be a peaceful yet resolute solidarity. In a democracy, the people will prevail.

[mac2]

14. What Constitution and laws?

Chernoff allowed Katrina people to drown. He should be in jail for criminal neglect. Fire him Congress.

[AlphaCentauri]

15. Bush legacy: Build a wall to keep Americans from defecting

after the mass deportation of Mexicans and look a like.

[angrycarpenter]

16. There is no way to secure the border

they should get over it and work on a plan that deals with the real world, Not some half-assed, expensive, useless fence.

[xioaping]

22. Another plan needed but border fences are not failed science

I agree with you that the situation is a mess and needs to be fixed. But as a matter of fact, building a secure border fence is not rocket science. Its been done for thousands of years. The modern version is a double fence with a no-mans land in the middle and land configuarations and obsticles to slow would-be crossers. If a fence will not work, it is only because it will not work politically. An effective design is not an issue.

[Anywho6]

17. This is yet another very bad precedent

We can't get rid of these asshats fast enough. Send Chertoff to The Hague with the rest of them.

:kick: