Border Wall Fallout

By Carrie Schneider, San Diego

E-MAIL STORY

Friday, Oct. 30, 2009 | Rob Davis does a great job of pointing out the mess created at the border by the Federal Government. The legislation that allowed this project, without any standards for mitigation of the deleterious effects, was the Real ID Act. This bill was supported by both of California's senators, and was ostensibly about improving identification verification, but also included a section that waived all laws (not just environmental laws) in order to speed border fence construction. This was despite the fact that none of the 9/11 terrorists entered the border through Mexico.

The failure of California's congressional representatives to remove this section from the bill means that San Diego will suffer for decades to come unless steps are taken to force the Federal Government to act responsibly. Kudos to Susan Davis for taking some steps to address this problem, but what is needed is a new act of Congress that forces the federal departments to repair the damage they have done to San Diego.

4 Comments so far on this story...

The fact I remember is all the 9/11 terrorist were in the country illegally. If the Federal government was required to act responsibly, they would pay for the illegals in our jails and prisons. The environmental impact of the fence is smaller than the impact of millions of people creating their own trails, using their illegal paths as garbage dumps and using our open spaces as toilets.

Posted by Fences make Good Neighbors | reply to this comment
October 31, 2009 7:45 am

Some, but not all, of the September 11 terrorists were in the country illegally. None came across a land border, they flew in and out of US airports repeatedly, so a border wall would have had zero impact on their movements. And as for the idea that the border wall will stop litter, that assmes first of all that it stops crossers - it does not - and second that their foot paths and litter are more damaging than an 18 foot high steel wall, with lights and roads. The wall is much more damaging than crossers, which is why former DHS Secretary Chertoff waived 36 laws to build it. Crossers would not drive the Sonoran pronghorn or ocelot to extinction, but the border wall will.

Posted by no border wall | reply to this comment
October 31, 2009 8:19 pm

I'm sure tearing down the wall will be a relief to the loved ones of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas. Go to San Ysidro and tell the folks that live there that the wall is going to be removed, but be prepared to run for your life. Ocelots and Sonoran pronghorn will probably rally to protect you, The Mexaican drug cartels are in fact terrorists. They cross the border wherever they can, by whatever means necessary and carry out their terrorist attacks on U.S. citizens via murders, home invasions and kidnappings. I say build three walls and man them with armed guards. Also illegal imigration is an incredable drain on California resources. It needs to be stopped and the precarious Mexican government has no backbone to do anything about either problem.

Posted by Joe Weil | reply to this comment
November 1, 2009 10:43 pm

I can understand there are reasons the government wants to build a fence, though I doubt it will be effective in stopping terrorists or immigration. It just changes the way they do it. In any case, there was no reason to cause all this damage. There is also no excuse for negligance that is likely to cause further damage, and repairing this will be much more costly than doing the right thing in the first place.

Posted by Janet | reply to this comment
November 1, 2009 9:58 am

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