Bush pulls rank to finish fence

[Soldier4Christ]

Bush pulls rank
to finish fence
Bypasses environmental laws, red tape
in effort to complete 670-mile barrier

The Bush administration plans to cut through the bureaucratic red tape and bypass environmental laws hindering the building of 670 miles of fence along the border with Mexico and finish the section authorized by Congress by the end of this year.

Federal officials said the administration will invoke two legal waivers sanctioned by Congress to overcome obstacles holding up construction in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, the Associated Press reported.

Officials have said the "virtual fence" along a 28-mile section of the border in Arizona has been delayed by technical problems, and opposition from landowners along the border has delayed plans for the 670 miles of fencing.

The department previously used its waiver authority to build smaller portions, two in Arizona and one in San Diego.

Federal officials say that 309 miles of fencing has been completed, as of March 17, with another 309 miles to go.

Amid more than 100 meetings between federal officials and environmental groups and residents, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff had insisted using the waivers would be a last resort, the AP noted. DHS says it will conduct environmental assessments when necessary, but the waivers allow the department to go ahead with building before the assessments are completed.

Landowners have refused to give the government access, and environmentalists complain the fencing puts endangered species into even worse situations. DHS argues the barrier will solve the problem of widespread trash and human waste left by illegal aliens.

As WND reported in January, the author of the fencing provisions of the Secure Fence Act of 2006, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif, introduced legislation in the House of Representatives to require the construction of double-layered barrier within six months.

However, an amendment submitted by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, into the Department of Homeland Security funding bill specifically exempted DHS from having to build any fence at all.

Hunter said in January that when the Secure Fence Act "was enacted more than one year ago, the American people were pleased to see the necessary steps were finally being taken to secure the dangerous and problematic smuggling corridors that exist along our border with Mexico."

"Instead of adhering to the law and building the prescribed fencing, the Department of Homeland Security began to immediately retreat from the mandates of the bill, indicating its intention to build 370 miles of fence and not the required 700 miles," he said.

At the time, Hunter pointed out, DHS had built about 75 miles of new fence along the border, of which only five miles was double-layered.

"The reality is that single-layered fencing and vehicle barriers do little, if anything, to stop illegal immigration, and the 'virtual fence' alternative being aggressively pursued by DHS remains ineffective and unusable," he the congressman said.

"The legislation I am introducing reinstates the most important elements of the Secure Fence, which were wrongly amended under the omnibus spending bill," Hunter said. "If we truly hope to bring some sense of security to our southern land border, then we must begin building the appropriate infrastructure in the timeliest manner possible."