Bush to Issue Waivers to Build Criminal Beaner Border Fence

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,344790,00.html

Bush Administration to Issue Waivers to Build U.S.-Mexico Border Fence

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration will use its authority to bypass more

than 30 laws and regulations to finish building 670 miles of fence along the

southwest U.S. border by the end of 2008, federal officials said Tuesday.

Invoking the two legal waivers, which Congress authorized, will cut through

bureaucratic red tape and sidestep environmental laws that currently impede

the Homeland Security Department from 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 they

were not authorized to comment publicly about it.

The move is the biggest use of legal waivers since the administration

started building the fence, and it will cover a total of 470 miles along the

Southwest border, the department said. Previously, the department has used

its waiver authority for two portions of fence in Arizona and one portion in

San Diego.

"Criminal activity at the border does not stop for endless debate or

protracted litigation," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in

a statement. "These waivers will enable important security projects to keep

moving forward."

As of March 17, there were 309 miles of fencing in place, leaving 361 to be

completed by the end of the year to meet the department's goal. Of those,

267 miles are being held up by federal, state and local laws and

regulations, the officials said.

One waiver will address the construction of a 22-mile levee barrier in

Hidalgo County, Texas. The other waiver will cover 30 miles of fencing and

technology deployment on environmentally sensitive ground in San Diego,

southern Arizona and the Rio Grande; and 215 miles in California, Arizona

and Texas that face other legal impediments due to administrative processes.

For instance, building in some areas requires assessments and studies that -

if conducted - could not be completed in time to finish the fence by the end

of the year.

Chertoff had said using the waivers would be a last resort. The department

has held more than 100 meetings with lawmakers, environmental groups and

residents in an effort to work out obstacles and objections to fence

construction.

The department will conduct environmental assessments when necessary. But

the waivers enable the department to start building before completing the

assessments. Chertoff said the department will continue to ask for input on

the construction plans.

Even as the fence is being built, debate continues about whether it will

stem illegal immigration.

Fernando Carrillo, a 32-year-old construction worker who was deported from

Arizona six months ago, said the added security wouldn't stop him from

trying to get back to his wife and three children in Phoenix. His youngest

child was born while he was in Mexico.

"They can do what they want, but we will keep trying," he said while walking

Tuesday with two other migrants along the newly built wall west of Nogales.

He said they were heading to an area where the wall had yet to be built.

"Whatever they do, you just have to keep trying because there, if you work

hard, you can make ends meet," he said.

Residents and property owners along the U.S.-Mexico border have complained

about the fence construction. In South Texas, where opposition has been

widespread, land owners refused to give the government access to property

along the fence route. The government has since sued more than 50 property

owners in South Texas to gain access to the land.

Environmentalists have also complained about the fence because they say it

puts already endangered species such as two types of wild cats - the ocelot

and the jaguarundi - in even more danger of extinction. They say the fence

would prevent them from swimming across the Rio Grande to mate.

"Unwilling to consult with local communities or to follow long-standing

laws, Secretary Chertoff chose to bypass stakeholders and push through this

unpopular project on April Fool's Day," Sierra Club executive director Carl

Pope said in a statement. "We don't think the destruction of the borderlands

region is a laughing matter."

Chertoff has said the fence is good for the environment because immigrants

degrade the land with trash and human waste when they sneak illegally into

the country.

"HarryNadds" <hoofhearted07@yahoo.com> wrote in message

news:ac7a1439-5e4f-429c-b4e6-6e329a50d15c@8g2000hsu.googlegroups.com...

On Apr 2, 8:51 am, "Patriot Games" <Patr...@America.com> wrote:

>> http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,344790,00.html

>> Bush Administration to Issue Waivers to Build U.S.-Mexico Border Fence

>> Wednesday, April 02, 2008

>I like one of the arguments the anti-fencers used.It blocks the flight

>path of migratory birds. I guess a goddamned bird can't fly over a 10

>foot tall fence FFS !!!

I'll have you know that fatass Democrat urban migratory birds CANNOT fly

over a 10' fence!