Border Fence Will Skirt Environmental Laws

Many resist federal efforts, but judges order them to give up

(NEWSER) - Americans on the southern US border are fuming over a federal fence that threatens to cut their properties in two, the Washington Post reports. The feds have erected about 165 miles of fence in the West and southwest, but some families, protecting land they have held for generations, are turning back surveyors. "This is the land that gave me my life and my spirit," one landowner said. "I will fight this all the way." More»

(NEWSER) - The Supreme Court has refused to hear a challenge to the completion of the border fence between the US and Mexico, Fox News reports. Environmental groups, an Indian tribe, and the city of El Paso brought the challenge, contending that a fence will cut off access to the Rio Grande for religious, cultural, and municipal purposes. The Obama administration had encouraged the court to reject the case. More»

An El Paso resident says resources are being wasted on security

(NEWSER) - GOP candidates love to talk about “securing” the border, especially Rick Perry. “It is not safe on that border,” the Texas governor said recently; last year, he even claimed, without any evidence at all, that bombs were exploding in the streets of El Paso. But “those of us who actually live along the border know otherwise,” writes El Paso judge Veronica Escobar, in the New York Times , noting that last year El Paso was ranked among America’s safest cities. More»

State lawmakers launch website to seek donations

(NEWSER) - It's a long way to $50 million, but Arizona lawmakers are happy with the first day's results of their pitch for donations to build a border fence. Their newly launched website got 884 online donations for a total of about $39,000 in its first 17 hours, reports the AP . Republican state Sen. Steve Smith wants to raise at least $50 million to put a secure wall along the Mexican border. Arizona Republic columnist EJ Montini, however, thinks it's a pie-in-the-sky ruse on the part of lawmakers to distract the public from their scandals. More»

Gov. Jan Brewer signed bill launching the plan

(NEWSER) - If the federal government won't complete Arizona's border fence, then gosh darn it, the state is going to do it itself. Arizona lawmakers have a plan that would get the fence built using online donations and 50-cents-an-hour prison labor, and Gov. Jan Brewer recently signed a bill setting the plan in motion, the AP reports. If the money comes in and landowners cooperate, construction could begin this year. Of the 650 miles of fence currently in place along the US-Mexico border, nearly half is in Arizona, which has a 376-mile border. More»