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.