Chertoff’s Congressional Challengers
April 8th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
After a lot of talk and not much action congressional members are finally standing up to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff’s imperial powers. Yesterday, U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, chair of Homeland Security, and 13 other congressional members announced they will file an Amicus Curiae brief at the end of the month to oppose Chertoff’s effort to brush aside laws in a rush to build a border wall. The Amicus urges the Supreme Court to hear a petition filed by Defenders of Wildlife and Sierra Club challenging Chertoff’s right to waive at least 39 federal environmental, historical and land protection laws.
The agency’s waiver will apply to 470 miles ranging from California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. A separate waiver has been signed for the 22-mile border fence-levee project to be built in Hidalgo County. In an Observer blog last week, Chertoff explained his reasons for filing the waiver.
Chertoff has the authority to do this thanks to Congress and the Real ID Act of 2005. He has already waived environmental rules in California and Arizona to expedite the construction of the border wall. His goal is to have 370 miles of “pedestrian fence” built along the Southern border by December 31, 2008.
Oliver Bernstein, a spokesperson for Sierra Club, says at this point Congress and the Supreme Court are the last avenues to stop the border wall from being built. “It is great to see Congressional members join in an effort to declare the Real ID Act unconstitutional,” he says.
The New York Times ran a good analysis today of the legal aspects of the case. The Supreme Court will probably not make a decision on whether to hear the petition until some time this summer.
Bernstein was also pleased to hear that Congressman Raul Grijalva and the House Natural Resource Committee will hold a hearing on the border wall on April 28th in South Texas. Girjalva, a Democrat from the border region in Arizona, is the author of HR 2593, called the Borderlands Conservation and Security Act. Grijalva’s bill gives Homeland Security the discretion to decide whether a fence is necessary. It also allows for community input and requires that federal laws be followed when building a fence.
The bill has languished in a Subcommittee since last summer, however — usually the kiss of death in legislative terms. And while it has 29 co-authors, not one of those co-authors is a Republican. The Democrats may have the majority in the House and Senate, but the majority is so razor thin that they can’t get anything passed without some Republican support.
Noah Kahn, a wildlife refuge program manager for Defenders of Wildlife, has been following the border fence debate in Washington D.C. since 2006. He says many Republicans have been approached to sign on to the bill, but no one wants to take the lead.
“The first question they ask is “what other Republicans have signed on to the bill’”? he says.
Kahn says he believes that many Republicans support building a wall because their constituents believe it will stop terrorism and illegal immigration. “The problem is actually a lot more complex. And a wall won’t stop illegal immigration or terrorism and that’s generally been proven already,” he says.
For one thing the wall is being built in patchwork pieces along the border. It is also questionable why the wall is being built through working class homes and not through golf courses and resorts as we documented in the Observer feature “Holes in the Wall.” In addition, the government has estimated it could cost as much as $49 billion to build, maintain and repair the fencing.
But as long as the wall is equated with stopping terrorism and illegal immigration, it’s very difficult for politicians to sell their constituents on alternatives, says Kahn. “DHS is insisting on fast-tracking this expensive, ineffective wall, which costs taxpayers well over $1 million a mile but only slows border crossings down by two to three minutes,” he says.
So why all the hurry on the part of Chertoff who will be on his way out in less than nine months? Kahn believes that President Bush is working behind the scenes to get the fence built before December 31, 2008. “I haven’t heard Bush speak about this fence publicly in more than a year. But I have credible sources saying his office is at work behind the scenes to get these walls built regardless of the costs to wildlife, local people, and the American taxpayer,” says Kahn.
April 8th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Nyaaah-nah-na-nyaah-nyaah!!!!
Did I just hear soeone say “Duh?”
April 8th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
yeah, I misspelled soMeone….
April 9th, 2008 at 10:22 am
What if bush wants this wall so bad because it is going to be one side of a huge concentration camp he plans to turn texas into? he has already started with the federal prisons, holding pens for “illegals” otherwise known as human beings seeking a way to survive or join their families who are already here. The corporate oppressors only want to divide and conquer - turn one little batch of poor folk against another - or contain and control - lock us all up. Write your congressperson, kick up a fuss - don’t let them do this to us! Get out your pots and pans!!