Posted on 05/25/2018 2:08:57 PM PDT by BBell
Environmental red tape is causing “long delays” for border agents as they try to fill tunnels used to smuggle people and dangerous drugs into the U.S. from Mexico, according to border officials and Republican lawmakers who have discussed the problem with agents.
Frustrated agents complain the lengthy federal review process can stall critical tunnel-plugging efforts for months after passageways are first discovered.
The tunnels are being used to move people, illegal drugs and even fake pharmaceuticals. But regulations stemming from laws like the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act are putting "remediation" on hold.
“I heard firsthand accounts from our Border Patrol agents that environmental red tape is hindering their ability to secure the border,” Utah Rep. Rob Bishop, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, told Fox News this week.
Bishop, along with Arkansas GOP Rep. Bruce Westerman, traveled to the Arizona border in February to meet with border agents and discuss how environmental laws and regulations are impacting security. Bishop, who has legislation aimed at addressing these issues, said they learned of the "significant delay in remediating illicit tunnels," a process where they are filled with gravel and concrete.
A Customs and Border Protection official confirmed to Fox News they've encountered “long delays” in remediating tunnels, acknowledging environmental regulations make up a “good portion of the delay.”
The official said other delays come with “clearing out a tunnel, mapping out the tunnel underground to know where to remediate from above, getting funding for the remediation and fulfilling a contract to a construction company to carry out the remediation.”
One particularly protracted response revolved around a sophisticated border tunnel -- the length of three football fields -- discovered in the town of Naco, Ariz., in February 2015. Photos show
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
“In fact, if they leave them open and wait for them to be used...”
Yeah, just put a Claymore and Concertina wire on our end. Problem solved. Kinda like a “human gopher trap!”
Stuff Pisslosi in it then raw sewage.
“Israel floods the Pali tunnels with raw sewage. Seems like a good idea to me.”
I know I’d be happy “to contribute!”
Clean out the desk and leave sounds like the very best plan there could be. Idiots and idiot laws and rules.
Unbelievable.
Enviro terrorists within our federal government
Oh for Heavens sake. Did the thugs do an evironmental study and wetland mitigation before they illegally dug the whole. Just backfill the thing with 4 sack mix already.
Det cord and C4.
Make the smugglers fill it in...
Question: Are the smugglers being charged with
enviromental destruction/ death of endangered
earth worms etc?
Use the same method that the Marines used on Iwo Jima and Okinawa to clear the Japs out of their tunnels and caves...Fire and brimstone...
The econuts and the mentally deficient judges who support their lunacy are soooooooooooooooooo retrograde and sooooooooooooooooo into being losers.
Screw the EPA. Blow up the tunnels, and refer the EPA bastards to Trump.
Sue the drug cartels for destroying the environment.
illegals are an invasive species
See,,,now its clear what the EPA was really created for. Screw the USA EVERY WAY POSSIBLE.
I’d recommend a propane flood, like of the type used for gophers. Pipe down ear splitting alarm noise, to give the tunnel occupants time to bug out, and then pop!
When my dog digs a hole, I fill it with dog poop, and add dirt. This stops future digging.
Why plug them? Leave them open, only heavily mined
F-em.
Fill the tunnels and then let the offended agency sue the Federal Government.
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