'No Border Wall' condemns violation of 20 federal laws

NO BORDER WALL CONDEMNS SECRETARY CHERTOFF’S WAIVER OF 20 FEDERAL LAWS TO BUILD ARIZONA WALL

By No Border Wall Coalition, Censored News, Oct. 23, 2007

The No Border Wall coalition is deeply disturbed by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff’s decision to waive 20 federal laws and overturn a judge’s order to resume construction of the border wall through the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. We believe that his action is highly irresponsible and will result in permanent damage to the San Pedro River and increased deaths in the desert, while the number of people who enter the U.S. illegally will be unaffected. Secretary Chertoff’s actions, and the ill-conceived Real ID Act that permits him to unilaterally waive our nation’s laws, undermine the notion that the United States is based on the rule of law. He cannot suspend the law while claiming to defend the law.

When the Border Patrol and Army Corps. of Engineers began building the border wall through the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, disregarding important federal statutes such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club petitioned the court for a temporary halt to construction. On October 10th U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle found that DHS had largely ignored the relevant laws, and that the hasty Environmental Assessment that had been produced without public comment was “inadequate.”

Rather than attempt to comply with our nation’s laws, Chertoff chose to “waive in their entirety… all federal, state, or other laws, regulations and legal requirements” related to the following 20 federal statutes:
National Environmental Policy Act
Endangered Species Act
Federal Water Pollution Control Act (aka Clean Water Act)
National Historic Preservation Act
Migratory Bird Treaty Act
Clean Air Act
Archaeological Resources Protection Act
Safe Drinking Water Act
Noise Control Act
Solid Waste Disposal Act
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
Federal Land Policy and Management Act
Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act
Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act
Antiquities Act
Historic Sites, Buildings, and Antiquities Act
Arizona-Idaho Conservation Act
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
Farmland Protection Policy Act
Administrative Procedures Act
This is a clear admission that the walls being built through the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area and other refuges along the border will run counter to these laws. There is no reason for Chertoff to waive laws that the wall will not violate.

In response to the court order, Secretary Chertoff said, "I have to say to myself, 'Yes, I don't want to disturb the habitat of a lizard, but am I prepared to pay human lives to do that?'” This dilemma is completely false. More than just the habitat of a lizard, federally endangered species such as the jaguar have been recorded in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area in recent years. And as for human lives, the border walls built to date have not saved lives; instead, they have cost lives. No terrorist has been apprehended attempting to cross our southern border, and a wall would not stop them if they tried. The Border Patrol has repeatedly stated that border walls only slow crossers down by a few minutes. In its June 5, 2007 report Border Security: Barriers Along the U.S. International Border the Congressional Research Service stated, “The primary fence, by itself, did not have a discernible impact on the influx of unauthorized aliens coming across the border in San Diego.” The only measurable impact that the border walls have had is in the number of people who have died in the desert. In August of 2005 the General Accounting Office issued a report titled Illegal Immigration: Border Crossing Deaths have Doubled Since 1995. Walls do not stop crossers, they redirect them into ever more remote parts of the desert where hundreds die of exposure and dehydration every year. When Chertoff asks himself whether he is “prepared to pay human lives,” he has his answer in the GAO report.

No Border Wall calls on Congress to restore the rule of law by repealing section 102 of the Real ID Act. Secretary Chertoff has provided a glaring example of the danger inherent in giving an Administration appointee the power to overrule all of the laws that Congress has enacted. If this precedent is allowed to stand the rule of law may be suspended for any future “crisis” that catches the attention of politicians during an election cycle. Our nation needs to find real solutions to our immigration issues, instead of a wall that destroys vital ecosystems and costs billions of dollars and hundreds of lives, but will only provide a false sense of security.

# # #

No Border Wall is a grassroots coalition of groups and individuals united in the belief that a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border will do irreparable harm to our borderlands and the nation as a whole. No Border Wall is opposed to the construction of a border wall because of the devastating consequences such a wall would have on border economies, on the environment, on human rights, and on the U.S. relationship with Mexico and the rest of the world.

For more information or an interview, contact or noborderwall@yahoo.com

Censored Blog hosts Earl Hutchinson on blog tour

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is on a book tour, a "blog tour," and has asked the Censored Blog to host him today. Here's some information on his new book, "The Latino Challenge to Black America," and a message from his publicist about the novel idea of "blog tours."

Chapter 1
Rising Latino Numbers, Rising Black Fears In October 2005, one month after Katrina ripped through New Orleans, a plainly agitated New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin told a town hall audience, "I can plainly see in your eyes that you want to know, 'How do I take advantage of this incredible opportunity? How do I make sure New Orleans is not overrun with Mexicans?'The remark was insensitive and insulting. And within days an enraged United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce denounced Nagin: The rising tension that underlay the Chamber's protest of Nagin was probably inevitable after the Census Bureau in 2002 publicly trumpeted that Latinos were now the top minority in the U.S. The news hit black America like a thunderbolt.
Chapter 3

Warped Perceptions in Black and Brown Despite being in America for centuries, many blacks still remain trapped in a hopeless morass of poverty, crime, violence, drugs and family deterioration. The newer immigrants accuse blacks of demanding expensive and wasteful government programs, rather than emphasizing self-help and personal initiative to draw themselves out of their economic misery. Few immigrants say it publicly, but privately some believe that blacks have stagnated because of apathy, laziness, low self-esteem and poor discipline. Even Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, in his seminal address at the Million Man March in October 1995, after chastising blacks to uplift themselves and their communities pointed a glowing finger at Mexicans as an example of immigrants who are moving forward in America, even if many of them came here illegally.
Chapter 7

Black and Brown Political Coalitions: Fact or Romantic Image

The Reverend Norman S. Johnson was a lonely man in the spring of 2001. The then-executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference –West was one of only two of the city's more influential black leaders to endorse Los Angeles mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa. Nearly every other prominent black leader and black elected official had endorsed Villariagosa's white opponent, Los Angeles city attorney James Hahn. Villaraigosa knew that black voters were wary and suspicious of him. He was determined to try to do whatever he could to reassure them that if he won, it would not mean (as some blacks openly said) that Mexicans would now run city hall.
Chapter 9 Illegal Immigrants Versus Black Workers There were no other blacks, whites or even English-speaking native-born Latino workers in the plant or in few other shops in the area. This is not a fictional story. Anti-illegal immigration activists say that the experience of the young black job seeker has played out thousands of times at restaurants, hotels, on farms and at manufacturing plants nationally, and that this is a major reason so many young black males are unemployed, join gangs, deal drugs and pack America's jails. The job loss to blacks that they attribute to illegal immigration is as much perception as slight reality. However, when the perception becomes a widely-held public belief and is continually repeated as fact, it soon takes hold in public opinion.

Nikki Leigh writes to the Censored Blog about the idea of the blog tour:

Authors have begun to use blog tours to promote their books. The process involves finding blog owners who are willing to "host" the author. I've found its much more effective to find blogs that appeal to the "target audience" for the book. This is a way to get information in front of the people who would be most interested in the content of the book. Mr Hutchinson's tour is going well. He's had several appearances on CNN and Fox News and I was very happy to see his book mentioned on the screen while he spoke with the host of the show. His ranking on Amazon has been good through the month and The Latino Challenge is ranking well in several key book categories. It appears that we're getting the book into people's hands and that's the best way to get the conversation started to help the problems he discusses in the book.
Anyone who would like more information about tours or Mr Hutchinson are welcome to contact me at nikki_leigh22939@yahoo.com or can visit my website at www.nikkileigh.com/promo.htm.

Press conference Indigenous Border Summit Thursday

Members of the media are invited to a press conference to announce the Indigenous Peoples' Border Summit of the Americas II
Time: Thursday, October 25, 2007, 11 a.m.
Place: San Xavier District Community Center, 2018 W. San Xavier Rd., Tohono O'odham Nation
Speakers: San Xavier District Chairman Austin Nunez and Tohono O'odham Border Summit organizer Mike Flores

The Indigenous Peoples’ Border Summit of the Americas II will be held from November 7-10, 2007 at the San Xavier Community Center, 2018 W. San Xavier Rd, Tohono O’odham Nation

The four-day Border Summit will host speakers and provide an opportunity for testimony on the militarization of US/Mexico and US/Canada borders, with a focus on Indigenous Peoples' right of mobility in their ancestral territories.
Mike Flores, Tohono O'odham summit organizer, said, "It is necessary for Tohono O'odham and other Indigenous Peoples of the border regions to collectively address the adverse impacts that are increasingly occurring on tribal lands.
"The Border Summit of the Americas II will provide us the opportunity to do just that," said Flores, member of the International Indian Treaty Council.
San Xavier District Chairman Austin Nunez joins Flores in welcoming Indigenous Peoples to the Border Summit on Tohono O'odham land.
During the Border Summit, Indigenous Peoples will discuss the impacts on Indigenous Peoples of borders throughout the world, especially for women, children and the elderly, and new visa and passport policies. Further, the impacts of border regulations on Indigenous Peoples' ceremonies and cultures will be discussed.
The International Indian Treaty Council will host a panel on human rights and the United Nations. The imprisonment of migrant children in Texas, other migrant detention centers, impacts on the environment and experimental spy technology along the US/Mexico border will be among the topics. Further, the right of mobility of Native people in Canada, along the northern border will be presented.
Following the successful Border Summit in 2006, the San Xavier District of the Tohono O'odham Nation will again host the summit this year. The United Nations encouraged the Border Summit to be held for a second time.

bordersummit2007@yahoo.com
Mike Flores: email: Michaelflores_@hotmail.com
Website:
http://www.indigenousbordersummitamericas2007.blogspot.com/