tagged w/ Department of Homeland Security
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Former FBI Language Specialist Sibel Edmonds finally gets to testify under oath, after being hit with a gag order.
Bombshells Under Oath: INCLUDE: CONGRESS MEMBERS NAMED IN ESPIONAGE, BRIBERY, SEXUAL BLACKMAIL SCHEMES; NEW BREWSTER JENNINGS / VALERIE PLAME DISCLOSURE...
Long gagged under the "state secrets" privilege by the Bush Administration, the Obama Administration's DoJ chose not to re-invoke privilege, paving the way for this information to finally make its way on to the unclassified public record.
LINK TO ARTICLE: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7348.
Former FBI Language Specialist Sibel Edmonds finally gets to testify under oath,... more
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Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced new guidelines today for a controversial federal program that lets local police enforce immigration laws, saying that the main priority of the program should be to go after dangerous criminals who are in the country illegally, not as a tool to go after illegal immigrants who commit minor offenses.
The new guidelines could limit the crime suppression sweeps that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been conducting for more than a year that have resulting in the arrests of several hundred illegal immigrants.
Critics have accused the sheriff of using the sweeps as a pretext to search for illegal immigrants by stopping motorists for minor traffic violations, and of using racial profiling to make those stops. Arpaio has denied the allegations.
"This new agreement supports local efforts to protect public safety by giving law enforcement the tools to identify and remove dangerous criminal aliens," Napolitano said in a prepared statement. "It also promotes consistency across the board to ensure that all of our state and local law enforcement partners are using the same standards in implementing the 287 (g) program."Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced new guidelines today for a... more
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The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is subjecting innocent Americans to unreasonable searches and detentions that violate the Constitution, according to a lawsuit filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU filed the complaint on behalf of a traveler who was illegally detained and harassed by TSA agents at the airport for carrying approximately $4,700 in cash.
“Airport searches are the most common encounters between Americans and law enforcement agents. That’s why it is so important for TSA agents to do the job they were trained to do and not engage in fishing expeditions that do nothing to promote flight safety,” said Ben Wizner, a staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. “It is, of course, very important to ensure the safety of flights and keep illegal weapons and explosives off planes. But allowing TSA screeners to conduct general purpose law enforcement searches violates the Constitution while diverting limited resources from TSA’s core mission of protecting safety. For the sake of public safety and constitutional values, these unlawful searches should stop.”
On March 29, 2009, Steven Bierfeldt was detained in a small room at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and interrogated by TSA officials for nearly half an hour after he passed a metal box containing cash through a security checkpoint X-ray machine. Bierfeldt was carrying the cash in connection with his duties as the Director of Development for the Campaign for Liberty, a political organization that grew out of Congressman Ron Paul’s presidential campaign.
Bierfeldt was detained and questioned as he returned home from a Campaign for Liberty event transporting proceeds from the sale of tickets, t-shirts, stickers and campaign material. Bierfeldt repeatedly asked the agents to explain the scope of their authority to detain and interrogate him and received no explanation. Instead, the agents escalated the threatening tone of their questions and ultimately told Bierfeldt that he was being placed under arrest. Bierfeldt recorded the audio of the entire incident with his iPhone.
“I do not believe I should give up my constitutional rights each time I choose to travel by plane. I was doing nothing illegal or suspicious, yet I was treated like a potential criminal and harassed for no reason,” said Bierfeldt. “Most Americans would be surprised to learn that TSA considers simply carrying cash to be a basis for detention and questioning. I hope the court makes clear that my detention by TSA agents was unconstitutional and stops TSA from engaging in these unlawful searches and arrests. I do not want another innocent American to have to endure what I went through.”
“Mr. Bierfeldt’s experience represents a troubling pattern of TSA attempting to transform its valid but limited search authority into a license to invade people’s privacy in a manner that would never be accepted outside the airport context,” said Larry Schwartztol, a staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. “Just as the Constitution prevents the police on the street from conducting freewheeling searches in the hopes of uncovering wrongdoing, it protects travelers from the kind of treatment Mr. Bierfeldt suffered.”
TSA officials have the authority to conduct safety-related searches for weapons and explosives. According to the ACLU’s lawsuit, TSA agents are using heightened security measures after 9/11 as an excuse to exceed their search authority and engage in unlawful searches that violate the privacy rights of passengers. The lawsuit also charges that unconstitutional searches and detention by TSA agents have become the norm.
The ACLU’s lawsuit was filed against Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which has authority over TSA. It was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C.
More @ LinkThe Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is subjecting innocent Americans to... more
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Nine days ago, I joined Greg Sargent in wondering if the murder of George Tiller should prompt a "second look" at the DHS report on homegrown right-wing extremists that was so scandalized by pundits who insisted it was some sort of high concept government crackdown on mainstream conservatives, despite the fact that it was a report initiated by the Bush administration in which the word "conservative" never appeared. In the wake of today's recent tragic events at Washington DC's Holocaust museum, that second look seems even more appropriate. Catherine Herridge, reporting for Fox News, agrees:Nine days ago, I joined Greg Sargent in wondering if the murder of George Tiller... more
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First, it was a Missouri Analysis and Information Center (MIAC) report; then it was a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report; now it is a New York congressman’s bill. Each of these items, taken on their own, is problematic enough; taken together they portend “a clear and present danger” to the liberties of the American people. It is getting very serious now.
As readers may recall, the MIAC report profiled certain people as being potential violence-prone “militia members”: including people who supported Presidential candidates Ron Paul, Bob Barr, and myself. In addition, anyone who opposed one or more of the following were also included in the list: the New World Order, the U.N., gun control, the violation of Posse Comitatus, the Federal Reserve, the Income Tax, the Ammunition Accountability Act, a possible Constitutional Convention, the North American Union, the Universal Service Program, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), abortion on demand, or illegal immigration.
The MIAC report prompted a firestorm of protest, and was eventually rescinded, with the man responsible for its distribution being dismissed from his position. The DHS report profiled many of the same people included in the MIAC report, and added returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans as potentially dangerous “extremists.”
As I have said before, it is very likely that when all of the opinions and views of the above lists are counted, 75% or more of the American people would be included. Yet, these government reports would have law enforcement personnel to believe we are all dangerous extremists that need to be watched and guarded against. If this was not bad enough, a New York congressman has introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to deny Second Amendment rights to everyone listed above.First, it was a Missouri Analysis and Information Center (MIAC) report; then it was a... more
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From the article..."A US Marine was arrested today at Logan International Airport after federal airport screeners discovered a gun, bomb-making materials, and ammunition in his checked baggage, State Police and Transportation Security Administration officials said.
Corporal Justin Reed, 22, of Jacksonville, N.C., was booked on US Airways Flight 877 to Charlotte, N.C., said TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis. She said Reed had arrived on a flight from Las Vegas this morning.
TSA screeners in Terminal B called State Police at 7:10 a.m. after a screen discovered the following items in his checked baggage: a locked handgun box containing a semi-automatic handgun, a fully loaded gun magazine, several boxes of 9 mm and 7.62 mm ammunition, three model rocket engines containing an explosive mixture, military pull-type fuses, switches, electronics kit boxes with various components, and a hand grenade fuse assembly with detonator.
Reed was charged with possession of an infernal machine and possession of a concealed weapon in a secure area of an airport. He was booked at the State Police barracks at Logan and held in lieu of $50,000 bail. He will be arraigned at East Boston Municipal Court on Tuesday.
Davis said it is legal to have a firearm in checked baggage but that it must be declared to security officials. The passenger in this case had not declared the weapon, she said. Davis said all checked baggage on domestic flights is required to be screened by TSA on originating flights.
Reed's bags had to be screened again at Logan because baggage handlers inadvertently routed them to baggage claim instead of onto his connecting flight to Charlotte. Typically bags are not rescreened during a layover, she said.
Davis said TSA was "actively investigating" why the gun and explosive materials were not detected during the screening in Las Vegas.From the article..."A US Marine was arrested today at Logan International Airport... more
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Yuma Arizona –
United States citizen Stephen Anderson was tortured and arrested by Border Patrol agents at an internal checkpoint near Yuma, Arizona, on Interstate 8. When he was stopped Anderson refused to let the officers search his vehicle.
The officers then brought a K9 unit to the scene and notified Anderson that the dog detected Narcotic substances in his vehicle. Agents then broke his vehicles passenger and driver side windows shattering glass all over Andersons face and body. Officers then used multiple taser’s to subdue Anderson who, by the way, was not resisting arrest. Anderson alleges that officers brutally beat his head and torso, and claims that this ENTIRE incident is on videotape.
After he was subdued and beaten, Anderson was then detained and taken to Yuma, Arizona where he was treated for his medical wounds. Officers at the checkpoint found no illegal narcotics or substances in Anderson’s vehicle.
Words from the pastor himself:
I told them I was a US citizen.
I told them I was on a business trip.
I told them I had no drugs or humans in the car.
That wasn't enough. They wanted to search the car, and I invoked my 4th amendment rights.
I DID NOT RESIST OR FIGHT BACK. YET I WAS TAZERED REPEATEDLY AND SHOVED IN BROKEN GLASS REPEATEDLY!
I was IN the United States!!! I had crossed no international border!!!
This occured on the night of April 14/15, 2009Yuma Arizona –
United States citizen Stephen Anderson was tortured and... more
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“On the day of its first foreign policy discussions with Mexico, the Obama administration remains mum on whether it will honor a campaign promise to alter a Bush administration policy establishing a massive fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, including in federally protected areas.”
So far, the Department of Homeland Security has erected about 613 miles of new pedestrian fencing and vehicle barriers to thwart illegal border crossers and drug smugglers trying to enter the United States.
While President Obama voted for the 2005 Secure Fence Act as an Illinois senator, he pledged on the campaign trail last year to review the Bush administration's fortification efforts, in part due to concerns about environmental impacts.
"I think that the key is to consult with local communities, whether it's on the commercial interests or the environmental stakes of creating any kind of barrier," Obama said last year at a debate in Austin, Texas.
While acknowledging that some areas may need fencing, Obama said deploying new surveillance technology and stepping up patrols would "be the better approach."
Yet almost three months into the new administration, neither Obama nor Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano are addressing the issue. Meanwhile, construction is beginning on two new sections of the fence, one through the Rio Grande Valley near Brownsville, Texas, and another in the Otay Mountain Wilderness in California's San Diego County.“On the day of its first foreign policy discussions with Mexico, the Obama... more
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Seven Signs of Terrorism.
A new video released by the city of Kansas City Missouri and the Dept. of Homeland Security.
Besides the fact that the quality is subpar along the lines of a bad corporate training video, This just reeks of McCarthyism.
This seems to be right in line with the new initiative in the U.K. that has citizens spying on other citizens by digging through each others garbage bins.
Please watch video and discuss-Seven Signs of Terrorism.
A new video released by the city of Kansas City Missouri... more
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The Iowa Army National Guard has dropped plans for urban warfare training in the western Iowa town of Arcadia after being deluged by nearly 100 e-mails and phone calls from gun-rights advocates nationwide.
The four-day event in April would have involved between 90 and 100 combat troops arriving in the Carroll County community in a convoy with a Blackhawk military helicopter flying overhead.
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Troops would have gone door to door, asking the town's 443 residents about a suspected arms dealer and conducting searches of homes if property owners volunteered in advance to cooperate.
There was no opposition to the Guard's plans from city leaders. But gun-rights advocates were outraged, and news about the exercise became a hot topic nationally on radio talk shows and the Internet.The Iowa Army National Guard has dropped plans for urban warfare training in the... more
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Will Obama continue with these tactics for Homeland Security?
Andrew Burton, photography major at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, documents the Border Patrol station in Rochester, N.Y., which apprehended more than 1,200 people who did not qualify to be in the United States in 2007.Will Obama continue with these tactics for Homeland Security?
Andrew Burton,... more
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If you see Border Patrol or ICE activity in Southern California
Call: 951-345-4043 or 866-946-9594If you see Border Patrol or ICE activity in Southern California
Call: 951-345-4043 or... more
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Do we really need to spend millions more on a fence right now? Thanks to the US economy, immigrants are leaving the US via the southern border, not trying to get in illegally.
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"The government has completed 500 miles of fencing along the Southwest border, 170 miles short of its goal."
"Congress has set aside $2.7 billion for the fence since 2006. But there's no estimate how much the entire system — the physical fence and the technology — will cost to build, let alone maintain."
"The fence along the U.S.-Mexico border is not intended to stop illegal immigration altogether, but make it more difficult for people to enter the U.S. illegally, Bush administration officials say."Do we really need to spend millions more on a fence right now? Thanks to the US... more
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Again, we see this administration that thinks it is above the law..even the Supreme Court. Why? They have much to hide..here is the article, and the rest at the link
This week could see a remarkable moment in American legal history, as 17 Guantanamo detainees are on the verge of being let out of prison. On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered the men released into the U.S. and told the Bush administration to produce the men in his courtroom Friday morning.
The detainees are 17 Chinese Muslims, known as Uighurs, who have been held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for nearly seven years. In past decades, the U.S. government has treated the group as Chinese nationalists. But in 2003, in an effort to accommodate the Communist Chinese government, the Bush administration listed one of the Uighur groups as a terrorist organization, using the designation as a rationale for the Uighurs' continued detention at Guantanamo.
However, a largely conservative panel of the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., ruled in June that the group is not hostile to the U.S. and that the administration had produced no reliable information to justify holding the Uighurs. The case was then sent back to a lower court for further action, including the possibility of release.
Federal Judge Ricardo Urbina said Tuesday that, in essence, enough is enough. Whatever authority the government may have had for detaining the Uighurs has ceased, he said.
The government now concedes these men are not enemy combatants, Urbina noted, and has provided no other justification for detention.
Uighurs living in the United States have arranged for 17 families to take the men until more permanent arrangements can be made. Urbina said he would hear from the Department of Homeland Security as to any conditions it would like imposed on the men after release — conditions that could include a ban on travel and requirements that the men report to authorities on a regular basis. The judge reacted angrily, however, when Bush administration lawyers suggested they could imprison the men in the U.S. once the Uighurs are transferred here. It is expected he will forbid that.
As luck would have it, one of the lawyers for the Uighurs was in Guantanamo on Tuesday and told the men of their court victory. The lawyer is not permitted to talk about the men's reaction by phone under classification rules.
The Chinese government on Tuesday again demanded that the men be returned, but the U.S. has refused because it concedes they would be tortured and possibly killed. The Chinese government sees the Uighurs as a threat because many of them want greater autonomy from Beijing.Again, we see this administration that thinks it is above the law..even the Supreme... more
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The Department of Homeland Security has been given the money it needs to begin turning international spy satellites within the country's borders, despite lingering fears about the program's lack of focus and the potential for it to infringe upon Americans' civil liberties.
After more than a year of delay, Congress quietly authorized DHS to begin sharing data gathered by military satellites with civilian and law enforcement agencies. A $634 billion spending bill signed into law earlier this week provides funds for DHS to establish the satellite surveillance program, known as the National Applications Office, without addressing the myriad concerns about NAO privacy and civil liberties protections that had been delaying its implementation.
Supporters of the program claim, according to the Wall Street Journal, that its scope will be limited to "emergency response and scientific needs," but civil liberties advocates and some members of Congress fear the door has been open for the highly classified satellite surveillance program to shift into high gear.
More from this article:
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/DHS_satellite_spy_program_going_forward_1002.htmlThe Department of Homeland Security has been given the money it needs to begin turning... more
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Recently obtained documents show that last year the Department of Homeland Security quietly reversed a two-decades-old policy that restricted customs agents from reading and copying the personal papers carried by travelers, including U.S. citizens. The documents were made public today by the Asian Law Caucus (ALC) and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which sued the government under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to obtain policies governing the searches and questioning of travelers at the nation’s borders.
The documents show that in 2007, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) loosened restrictions on the examination of travelers' documents and papers that had existed since 1986. While CBP agents could previously read travelers' documents only if they had "reasonable suspicion" that the documents would reveal violations of agency rules, in 2007 officers were given the power to "review and analyze" papers without any individualized suspicion. Furthermore, whereas CBP agents could previously copy materials only where they had "probable cause" to believe a law had been violated, in 2007 they were empowered to copy travelers' papers without suspicion of wrongdoing and keep them for a "reasonable period of time" to conduct a border search. The new rules applied to physical documents as well as files on laptop computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices.
In July 2008, the Department of Homeland Security made public a new policy on examining travelers' papers and electronic devices that finalized many of the changes first implemented in 2007. The agency did not disclose, however, how much the new policy deviated from rules that had been in place since 1986. The FOIA documents from ALC's and EFF's suit included the original policy, which had been adopted after a group of U.S. citizens challenged the practices of the 1980s as violating First Amendment rights.
"For more than 20 years, the government implicitly recognized that reading and copying the letters, diaries, and personal papers of travelers without reason would chill Americans' rights to free speech and free expression," said Shirin Sinnar, ALC staff attorney. "But now customs officials can probe into the thoughts and lives of ordinary travelers without any suspicion at all."
In February 2008, ALC and EFF sued the Department of Homeland Security for failing to disclose its policies on searching and questioning travelers at U.S. borders. ALC, a San Francisco-based civil rights organization, received more than two dozen complaints since last year from U.S. travelers, mostly of Muslim, South Asian, or Middle Eastern origin, who said they were grilled about their families, religious practices, volunteer activities, political beliefs, or associations when returning to the United States from travels abroad. In addition, these individuals said that CBP agents examined their books, handwritten notes, personal photos, laptop computer files, and cell phone directories, and sometimes made copies of this information. The documents from the FOIA request show that CBP's wide latitude to collect this data attracted significant attention from other law enforcement agencies that sought to access it.
"Your laptop computer likely contains a massive amount of private information such as personal emails, financial data or confidential business records," said EFF Staff Attorney Marcia Hofmann. "The Department of Homeland Security has given its agents increasingly broad authority to search, copy, and store that information. Congress needs to step in now to stop these invasive practices and protect travelers' privacy."
The newly released documents, which total 661 pages, also reveal that:Recently obtained documents show that last year the Department of Homeland Security... more
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Let the tracking begin!
Excerpts from company's web site:
GeoEye is the premier provider of geospatial information for the national security community, strategic partners, resellers and commercial customers to help them better map, measure and monitor the world. The Company is recognized as the industry's trusted imagery expert for delivering reliable service and the exceptional quality of its imagery products and solutions. It operates a constellation of Earth imaging satellites, mapping aircraft and has an international network of ground stations, a robust imagery archive, and advanced imagery processing capabilities for developing innovative geospatial products and solutions.
This sub-meter ground resolution means GeoEye-1 will be able to discern an object on the ground approximately 16 inches in size and map it to within 3 meters of its true location, using both multispectral imagery and panchromatic imagery.
GeoEye-1 will make 15 orbits per day flying at an altitude of 423 miles with an orbital velocity of about 16,800 mi/hr. Its sun-synchronous orbit allows it to pass over a given area at about 10:30 a.m. local time every day. Given its altitude and sun-synchronous orbit, field of view and superior resolution GeoEye-1 can “revisit” any point on the globe every three days or sooner, depending upon the required look angle.
Here is a list of use for their products in respective order:
Defense
National and Homeland Security
Air and Marine Transportation
Oil and Gas
Energy
Mining
Mapping and Location-based Services
State and Local Government
Insurance and Risk Management
Agriculture
Natural Resources and Environmental Monitoring
Excerpt from FAQ page:
Q. What about the imagery 24-hour hold rule for space pictures better than IKONOS?
A. After a lengthy U.S. Government interagency review, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) notified commercial imagery providers that the 24-hour hold rule that was required for imagery at a resolution better than .82-meter is no longer in place. On June 29, 2007, GeoEye’s commercial remote sensing license was modified to reflect this change. This means that GeoEye will be able to sell imagery as soon as possible after it has been captured.
What do you think about this?
Don't think you aren't being monitored. It's is just so far removed, you just don't notice it.
Good luck fellow citizens.
Ride on!
Let the tracking begin!
Excerpts from company's web site:
GeoEye is the... more
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Australia warns of high risk of terror attacks on US flights
Australia on Sunday warned of a "high risk" of terror attacks on domestic and international flights in and to the United States, urging citizens to be vigilant while in the country.
"We advise you to exercise caution and monitor developments that might affect your safety in the United States because of the risk of terrorism," the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a travel advisory.
The department urged travelers to monitor the media for information about possible new security threats.
"The United States Department of Homeland Security's Advisory System Threat Level is at Orange for all domestic and international flights, indicating a 'high' risk of terrorist attack," it said.
"It is at Yellow or 'elevated' for all other sectors, indicating a significant risk of terrorist attack."
The advisory also included warnings about extreme weather conditions as Hurricane Gustav bears down.
"There is severe weather, including hurricane conditions, affecting the southeast coastline of the United States," the advisory said.
"Australians in affected regions should adhere to all advice and evacuation requests enforced by local authorities."
New Orleans began mandatory evacuations as Gustav, hailed as "the mother of all storms", was set to plow into the US Gulf Coast on Monday packing winds of 150 miles (242 kilometers) per hour.
Australia warns of high risk of terror attacks on US flights
Australia on Sunday... more
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Traveling between the United States and Canada this year? Your laptop, iPod, mobile phone, USB drive, books, videos, and other electronic, print, and other matter is subject to seizure by U.S. Department of Homeland Security border agents according to new Homeland Security policy as part of a broadening anti-terrorism campaign. Nestor E. Arellano, in his contribution to itbusiness.ca, details the impact and scope of the program in "Canadian privacy and security experts assail US laptop seizure policy" (6 August 2008).
Image: Peace Arch at the U.S.-Canadian border, Blaine, Washington and Surrey, British Columbia. Courtesy of wikipedia.org.Traveling between the United States and Canada this year? Your laptop, iPod, mobile... more
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Community groups are concerned about the Department of Homeland Security's plans to build a giant fence down the middle of a park that marks the westernmost border between the United States and Mexico.
"This is an area where families with members on both sides of the border can get together on the beach and have a picnic, or bring a new born baby to show to a relative on the other side," said John Fanestil, executive director of San Diego Foundation for Change. "All that will be lost if this new fence is built."
The area, officially known as Border Field State Park, is called Friendship Park by most locals. It spans the southernmost part of San Diego, in the United States, and the northernmost part of Tijuana, in Mexico.
Border Field State Park was first bisected by a fence in 1994 as part of "Operation Gatekeeper," a Clinton administration effort to reinforce border controls. The fence installed at that time is a simple chain link fence that visitors can see through as they socialize with friends and family on the other side.
The new fence, currently under construction, is mandated under the Secure Fence Act, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2006. It is expected to be much more imposing.
Representatives of the Department of Homeland Security did not return phone calls and e-mails by deadline, and a spokesperson for California State Parks system told OneWorld she had "no idea" about the new fence's design or route. But observers say there's little doubt what form the new barrier will take.
"If it's like the fencing put up elsewhere along the border near San Diego, there will be two fences made with triple strength concertina wire," explained David Danelo, a former Marine Corps Captain and author of the new book The Border: Exploring the U.S.-Mexico Divide. "There will be one fence, 150-meter dead zone that's big enough for a vehicle to drive, and then the second fence."
The system, Danelo said, is called Sandia fencing, because it was developed at the Energy Department's Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico. According to the organization Taxpayers for Common Sense, Sandia fencing costs $800,000 per mile to install and $7,000 a year to maintain.
**continues**Community groups are concerned about the Department of Homeland Security's plans... more
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