By Stefanie Herweck
The acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan used his power to waive laws in order to build the border wall to dismiss 29 federal laws in the Rio Grande Valley on Friday afternoon. The waivers apply to planned border wall segments in Starr County near Rio Grande City and La Grulla as well as much of the unwalled portion of Hidalgo County, totaling approximately 17 miles.
The laws that no longer apply to these areas include the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Farmland Protection Policy Act. Along with the 29 laws listed, McAleenan waived “all federal, state, or other laws, regulations, and legal requirements of, deriving from, or related to the subject of” the stated laws.
There is, of course, no reason for the Trump administration to waive these laws unless they intend to break them. In the process of border wall construction, they will pollute our air, fill in critical wetland areas, harm endangered species, encroach on our precious farmland and all manner of other destructive acts in order to build border walls.
This extraordinary power to simply dismiss laws that Congress voted on and presidents signed, as well as state and local laws, was granted to an unelected member of the White House cabinet in the Real ID Act of 2005. Its authors were set on pushing through 14 miles of border wall in California that had been held up by legal challenges since the mid-1990s because of the massive environmental destruction they would cause. The Real ID legislation would not have passed on its own and so was inserted into a bill that funded Indonesian tsunami relief, as well as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Now it is being used to wage war on border communities. The laws that protect people in other parts of the country do not apply to us.
The historic Jackson-Ramirez Cemetery near San Juan is included in the areas where laws are waived, even though Customs and Border Protection claimed they would avoid desecrating it with border wall construction. Members of the Carrizo-Comecrudo Tribe are occupying the cemetery in an effort to protect the land and the graves there and to draw attention to the indigenous history of the Borderlands. However, the laws waived include both the Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
The Real ID waiver authority, meant originally to overcome legal challenges in a specific area, has created a perfect storm in the borderlands since Trump took office, leaving border communities defenseless against the almost unthinkable destruction that border walls will cause.
I think the the Eli cementary should not to disturb. In any matter i dont you all dont want yo be in the shoes of any of us that havlive ones there so please try to put that zborder wall some wherevelse by examteming yhe cwmentary. Thank You Mrs Torres
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Democrats had both the House and a super majority in the Senate in 2008 to change the Real ID Act if they wanted to.
Absolutely. Democrats in general have only vocally opposed border walls since Trump, and still they have continued to vote for them. The Obama administration BUILT most of the walls that were called for by the Secure Fence Act. And the Clinton administration developed the Prevention through Deterrence ideology that started it all. Wall-building is a mania not of party but of the federal government as a whole.
hey trump this land isn’t us a property and never paid us the heirs of llano grande and other spanish land grants for our lands you just stol,e our land the wal l is being built on our ancestors grave yards how would you like it if we chyt all over fred drumpf grave and your gd bimbo grand father mter fker
Unbelievable. Baby Trump will have his way – never mind all those nasty little laws.
Absolutely unbelievable that Trump & cronies are so despicable they ignore laws that have been put in place by others following the laws of the land. They are so arrogant that the rest of us be damned. It only matters what those old straight white thieving lying conning old goats think and do. Screw you Trump, Mcconnell, Cruz, Cornyn.
Stop the maddness!
The big problem I had this was done by the “ACTING” Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan. This person is not technically a cabinet member until confirmed by the Senate. The Real ID Act of 2005 states cabinet member.
The wall is only for Trump’s ego and will violate the privacy and ownership of properties along the border. In addition, it will break through and create turmoil for wildlife that call it their home. This is truly a violation of laws that have been created for the quality of life. And the wall will NOT create safety in America. STOP THE WALL!!! AND STOP TRUMP FROM PULLING AWAY PROTECTION OF NATIONAL PARKS, CLEAN AIR, HEALTHCARE, EDUCATION, AND SO MUCH MORE. He is absolutely unfit for leadership especially here in the US.