Border Fence // Current

What the next president will inherit

Dust yourself off people, we have a lot of work to do.

TheRealEdwin
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New Fence Will Split a Border Park

IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. — At a time of tumult over immigration, with illegal workers routed from businesses, record levels of... more

lukewarmenthusiasm
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Family Gatherings at Border to Become Casualty of US Crackdown

Each face would be overlaid with the rusted chain links of the US-Mexico border fence, but Jorge Ibarra snapped the photos anyway.... more

goldenways
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Tribe says border fence restricts sacred rites

Calling it an affront to religious freedom, representatives of an Arizona Indian tribe have asked the federal government to halt... more

goldenways
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Border fence will skirt environmental laws

In an aggressive move to finish building 670 miles of border fence by the end of this year, the Department of Homeland Security... more

JanforGore
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Border Fence Challenge Rebuffed

The government's plan to build a 670-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border took another step forward Monday when the Supreme Court turned away a legal challenge from environmentalists.

The court's action clears the way for U.S. officials to press ahead with the project with little worry that judges will be able to stop it.

Three years ago, Congress gave Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff an unusual power to "waive all legal requirements" that could stand in the way of building the fence. These requirements included the nation's environmental protection laws. The same congressional action took away the authority of judges to review Chertoff's decisions.

Last year, after Chertoff waived at least 20 laws and regulations to complete a section of the fence in Arizona, two environmental groups sued. They said it was unconstitutional to give a Cabinet secretary such sweeping power.

But a federal judge rejected that claim. And on Monday the Supreme Court without comment declined to hear a petition submitted by Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club.

The high court's refusal is not a ruling, and it doesn't mean the justices won't reconsider the issue. But for now, Chertoff and his department have the go-ahead to proceed with the fence. Nearly half the barrier has been built.

Oliver Bernstein, a spokesman for the Sierra Club in Austin, Texas, called the court's action "unfortunate."

"This decision leaves one man -- the secretary of the Homeland Security -- with the extraordinary power to ignore any and all of the laws designed to protect the American people, our lands and our natural resources," Bernstein said. "Today's decision will allow the DHS to continue to waive key health, environmental and safety laws that have protected communities, wildlife, archaeological, historic and cultural resources."

Fourteen House Democrats and a group of law professors had urged the Supreme Court to take the case. They agreed with the environmentalists that it was unprecedented to give a Cabinet member so much power while also stripping judges of the authority to review the legality of his actions.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), a proponent of the law, called the court's action "a victory for the American people" and a milestone toward finishing the barrier.

"According to recent estimates, nearly half a million illegal immigrants cross the border annually," Smith said. "The court's refusal to hear the case . . . ensures that the DHS can carry out Congress' mandate to build a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border without legal restrictions or interference from environmentalists."

The project still faces legal challenges from landowners and tribal groups. It is unclear whether judges have the authority to act on such claims. The government's plan to build a 670-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border took another step forward Monday when the... more

anglcazn
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5 months ago

This is not a pipe dream

Subcomandante Marcos comes to the United States with the plans for a trickle-up democratic reform to empower the downtrodden.

waynesumstine
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11 responses

6 months ago

US and Canada agree to use each other's troops in 'civil emergencies'

Canada and the U.S. have signed an agreement that paves the way for the militaries from either nation to send troops across each... more

JanforGore
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6 months ago

Texas officials sue US over border fence

Texas mayors and business leaders filed a class-action lawsuit Friday alleging Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff hoodwinked landowners into waiving their property hts for construction of a fence along the Mexican border.

Members of the Texas Border Coalition said Chertoff did not fairly negotiate compensation with landowners for access to their land for six-month surveys to choose fence sites. The coalition of mayors and business and community leaders is seeking an injunction to block work on the fence.

They also want a federal judge to rescind all the agreements with landowners and to order Chertoff to start again. The department has sought and won access from hundreds of landowners to determine where to build the fence and other barriers to illegal border crossings.

The coalition's attorney, Peter Schey, said Chertoff violated a 1996 immigration law that requires fair negotiation with landowners.

The lawsuit also names Robert Janson, director of Asset Management at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as a defendant.

It was filed with U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, a Bush nominee who presided in the criminal case of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff.

"They hoodwinked property owners" into waiving their property rights, Schey said.

"This whole thing has been built on a foundation of lawlessness," he said.

Landowners were visited by officials from Homeland Security, Army Corps of Engineers and Customs and Border Patrol. But the government didn't send anyone to advise the owners' of their property rights, Schey said. Some landowners accepted offers of $100 for access to their land.

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Of course it has been built on lawlessness... this is the Bush regime we're talking about. Tell me why these people are in power again? And this fence is a farce and will do nothing but waste time and money better spent. Just another scheme to not only keep people out, but to keep people in and ruin the environment. Good for Texas for standing up to Nosferatu.Texas mayors and business leaders filed a class-action lawsuit Friday alleging Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff... more