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Interior secretary on wall: We're not going to cede Rio Grande to Mexico
The Hill ^ | 03/29/2017 | Ben Kamisar

Posted on 03/29/2017 7:47:33 AM PDT by GIdget2004

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Tuesday mused about the difficulties of building President Trump's signature border wall on the Mexican border, asserting that America can't give away the Rio Grande to Mexico in the process.

"The border is complicated, as far as building a physical wall," he said during a speech to the Public Land Council in Washington D.C., according to E&E News.

"The Rio Grande, what side of the river are you going to put the wall? We're not going to put it on our side and cede the river to Mexico. And we're probably not going to put it in the middle of the river."

The report also said Zinke admitted that the administration could instead rely on electronic defenses or could skip building the wall in certain areas where terrain may make crossing improbable.

Thanks to a 1970 treaty negotiated between the United States and Mexico, the middle of the Rio Grande serves as the boundary between the two countries in some places. That treaty, as well as the natural shifts of the river, served as a stumbling block to previous attempts to build border fencing and could complicate the Trump administration's push for a wall.

Trump made the construction of a border wall to stem the flow of illegal immigration a centerpiece of his presidential campaign. Once in the Oval Office, Trump almost immediately signed an executive order calling for the wall to be built and the Department of Homeland Security has requested proposals for the wall.

(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...


TOPICS: Government; Mexico; News/Current Events
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To: KarlInOhio

Water use???


61 posted on 03/29/2017 9:09:19 AM PDT by Ozark Tom
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To: eyeamok

Most drugs are smuggled in via ships, planes and tunnels. The wall won’t make much of a difference in that regard, but as you sound particularly negative, don’t let those facts slow you down.


62 posted on 03/29/2017 9:12:50 AM PDT by Durus (You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality. Ayn Rand)
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To: eyeamok

The Rio G. with crocodile? How about observation towers equipped with those 60 kilowatt lasers from Lockheed?


63 posted on 03/29/2017 9:17:06 AM PDT by Ozark Tom
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To: Vic S

keyboard spew alert


64 posted on 03/29/2017 9:17:18 AM PDT by SteveH
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Comment #65 Removed by Moderator

To: central_va

We could sell our portion of the Rio Grande to Mexico and use the proceeds to help fund the wall. Ergo, Mexico pays for part of the wall.


66 posted on 03/29/2017 9:19:25 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (April 2006 Message from Dan: http://www.dansimmons.com/news/message/2006_04.htm)
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To: central_va
I never heard one complaint about that mean old government taking our land [for interstate highways].

Then you haven't been paying attention.

67 posted on 03/29/2017 9:24:09 AM PDT by NorthMountain (The Democrats ... have lost their grip on reality -DJT)
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To: GIdget2004

Well, if we can’t fence along the river, how about machine gun nests every 200 yards?


68 posted on 03/29/2017 9:25:48 AM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizen Means Born Here Of Citizen Parents - Know Islam, No Peace -No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: CharlesWayneCT

Build the wall on our side. Ranchers are not exactly bereft of other ways to water their animals.


69 posted on 03/29/2017 9:26:44 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (April 2006 Message from Dan: http://www.dansimmons.com/news/message/2006_04.htm)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

They are going to pay for the wall anyway. They are the reason we need the wall. Why `sweeten the deal’ for them?


70 posted on 03/29/2017 9:30:12 AM PDT by tumblindice
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To: KarlInOhio

Build it some distance on the north side. The wall is a barrier, not a border.


71 posted on 03/29/2017 9:33:21 AM PDT by virgil (The evil that men do lives after them.)
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To: NorthMountain

The interstate (federal) highway system land acquisition requirement dwarfs the border wall land easement. I was a kid in the 1960’s but I don’t remember protests over building these huge and very wide roads. My parents were very much in favor of them.


72 posted on 03/29/2017 9:33:32 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: central_va
I have seen several nasty court fights over land to build new interstate (and other) highways. There's a three-digit interstate highway in Ohio that was re-routed in two or three spots to avoid landowners who wanted to fight in court to the bitter end.

The ranchers along the border in Texas have a legitimate concern. I want to see them properly compensated, and properly assured access to water.

I also want to see the border properly secured.

Much more importantly, I want to END the practice of giving jobs and goodies from the government to illegal aliens. We need to make illegal life in the USA truly suck for illegal aliens. That will do us far more good than just building a wall.

73 posted on 03/29/2017 9:40:13 AM PDT by NorthMountain (The Democrats ... have lost their grip on reality -DJT)
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To: texas_mrs
Dear Mrs Texas,

That is a beautiful photo. Where is that? I saw the Rio Grande in Albq, NM and it was just a little creek.

Did a glacier cut out the land? Up here in MN many of the land variations were caused by glaciers or rivers that have gotten smaller. I mean no offense to you.

74 posted on 03/29/2017 9:42:31 AM PDT by BarbM (President Trump. (no tag line needed))
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To: NorthMountain

“[N]or shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
The framers were property owners and mistrusted government.

Anyone being paid just compensation has nothing to bitch about. The interstate highway system was built for the purpose of national security, a public use, to be able to transport machines and troops where needed.

The reason for the wall is identical: to repel an invasion. The Texans opposed to border security are bitching because they want FMV plus for desert scrub that even Gila monsters and Mexicans can’t wait to vacate.


75 posted on 03/29/2017 9:42:56 AM PDT by tumblindice
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To: NorthMountain

The Intestate Highway system has 47.7 thousand miles long. You are giving me one example of an easement problem?


76 posted on 03/29/2017 9:43:52 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

I doubt any rancher let the livestock anywhere near that open sewer called the Rio Grande.


77 posted on 03/29/2017 9:46:13 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: eyeamok

Out comes the hookah smoking caterpillar to rail against the war on drugs.

1) There will be a wall. A physical wall. They are all over the globe.

2) Whatever it has to do with stopping the drug trade, the main, overwhelming purpose of the wall is to stop illegal immigrants.


78 posted on 03/29/2017 9:47:26 AM PDT by LS ("Castles Made of Sand, Fall in the Sea . . . Eventually" (Hendrix))
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To: central_va

You said you had never heard of it. Now you have. You’ve been educated. You’re welcome.


79 posted on 03/29/2017 9:47:39 AM PDT by NorthMountain (The Democrats ... have lost their grip on reality -DJT)
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To: tumblindice
The framers were property owners and mistrusted government.

And they were absolutely right to do so ... and when I see people bitching about paying fair market value for land which the government wishes to take by force, I am reminded of how right the Framers were.

80 posted on 03/29/2017 9:52:10 AM PDT by NorthMountain (The Democrats ... have lost their grip on reality -DJT)
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