Posted on 07/19/2007 12:46:46 PM PDT by RDTF
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Construction on a border wall in southern Texas is expected to begin by this autumn, despite strong local opposition, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in an interview published on Thursday.
Chertoff told the Houston Chronicle the federal government "can't rule out" using powers of eminent domain to seize land for the wall that is intended to stem the flow of illegal immigrants entering the United States from Mexico.
In heavily Hispanic southern Texas, where cultural and economic ties to Mexico run deep, local officials, business groups and environmentalists have spoken out against the wall as unnecessary and unwanted.
But Chertoff said national security was at stake, so the project will move ahead shortly.
"I expect we'll be doing some construction in Texas this fiscal year," he said, referring to the government fiscal year ending September 30.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
I really need to see Baghdad Bob with Chertoffs face.
Are they brothers?
Well stated!
Eminent domain away baby! Just make sure the wall is a good one.
“There was, of course, more to running a ranch than raising money and raising steers. From the beginning the XIT was placed more and more under fence. In the first year alone 781 miles were fenced; each year this total was increased until finally the equivalent of 6,000 miles of single-strand fence were strung—enough fence to run from New York to Los Angeles and return, and still have several hundred miles left over.”
The table of contents and additional excerpts can be found at: http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/excerpts/exduk600.html
While were at it, how about some Pirahannas for the Rio Grande?
You make a very good argument and I fully understand it. However, having seen the living conditions in border towns and deeper within Mexico, I can fully understand why one would illegally come to America. If I lived in a one-room tin and tarpaper shack in Ciudad Juarez, burning tires for warmth in the winter and having to step over raw sewage in the unpaved streets, I would sneak my family over to America in a heartbeat.
I blame the US more for not enforcing the laws than I blame the Mexicans who cross the border. We wouldn't have this problem if the federal government had been doing its job. Not only that, but many cities -- including Dallas -- have made it illegal for police officers to ask for proof of citizenship. This is a travesty.
I don't propose an easy amnesty. Any illegal immigrant who has committed a felony should be given a one-way ticket back to Mexico. If they try to come back, put them in jail. I also believe that illegal immigrants should pay a hefty fine for having lived here illegally and should be required to learn English before being issued a visa. It's essential that they be strongly encouraged to adopt the culture of the US.
Reasonable people can disagree on this issue. My experience has been that the vast majority of illegal aliens are good, hard-working, moral people who are, in essence, refugees from a corrupt country. You would not want your family to live in the conditions that they have endured in Mexico. I tell my wife (only halfway in jest) that the best thing that could happen to Mexico would be for the United States to annex it and install a new government.
I think we can agree that the US needs to build an impenetrable border from San Diego to the mouth of the Rio Grande. Then we can worry about those who are already here.
“I see in the article that our modern Homeland Security is to be through with the 760+ miles of fence (secure our borders) by 2013.”
Just proves they won’t build it, and that they want 20-30 million more illegals to jump the border.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1868627/posts?page=4#4
Some first-time grant winners this year were Norfolk, El Paso and Providence, R.I., which received $8 million, $6 million and $5 million respectively. Houston, San Diego and Phoenix each received an $8 million boost, to $25 million, $16 million and $12 million, respectively.
Baldersash.....pure drivel.
I ain’t holdin’ my breath.
It will be made out of Legos and styrofoam bonded together with a topping of Cool Whip. All building materials will be approved by the Chinese.
Isn’t that the same technology used in Israel? I could be wrong but I seem to remember the sections were all preformed and shipped to the site and slid in place.
What is a Tejanos?
I think that was Laz. Blackbird.
Just as soon as the GATE is completed...
I can’t say for sure, but the wall I saw was prestressed concrete but was a series of tongue and groove panels. There are interstate walls built like that but I think the post and panels might use less material and have longer sections.
Chertoff is a jerk; and a dumb jerk at that. When I see his ugly, Russian mug on TV, I change the channel immediately so I won’t have to listen to his crap.
Q: “What do Canada & Mexico have that America doesn’t?”
A: “A Good neighbor.”
Good fences make good neighbors...build it now, build it twice!
It is not just about Mexicans and/or Mexico. People by the millions are in this country from all over the world illegally.
And you can build the wall and put the employers in jail at the same time.
But this administration doesn't want to do squat.
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