Border Union Sues Chertoff Over Fence

Members of the Texas Border Coalition yesterday said Department of Homeland Security officials "lied" about reaching out to Texas landowners over the U.S.-Mexico border fence, and filed a class-action lawsuit against Secretary Michael Chertoff demanding he give landowners more say before the fence is built.

Under the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, the group of border mayors, county judges and community leaders said the federal government violated the rights of landowners and intimidated them into signing away, for a $100 payment, rights to come on their land and prepare for building the fence.

"What's being forced upon us is not the American way," Brownsville Mayor Pat M. Ahumada Jr. told reporters and editors at The Washington Times.

"The fact that they hoodwinked the stakeholders into believing they had no choice but to give the government the right to access to the land for six months to do whatever they want was dishonest, disingenuous and I think illegal, and that's why we're filing the lawsuit," Mr. Ahumada said.

The suit is the latest escalation in what has become a bitter back-and-forth between the federal government and local officials on the Texas border. Earlier this year Mr. Chertoff waived environmental restrictions to push construction of the fence along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, and his department has gone to court to try to force access to dozens of sites it says are blocking access to lay plans for construction.

According to the coalition, top Homeland Security officials are wrong when they claim to have consulted with local governments, and they have treated Texas communities with indifference or deceit.

"They lie over and over again," said Dennis E. Nixon, president and CEO of Texas-based International Bancshares Corp. and a member of the coalition.

Well, It’s a group using environmental regulations to try to keep the fence from being built on their land, or at least to have some say about where it goes, vs. a guy who doesn’t really want to build the fence anyway. So who knows who’s right and who’s wrong about this particular argument?

I suspect Chertoff could have found some way to satisfy most of these people. It’s not that different from building a highway, and that gets done, usually by paying at least some of the protestors off for the damage and inconvenience, before they can put an organized protest together.

I still can’t forget the spectacle of Chertoff standing there at the microphone saying that we should pass the McCain-Kennedy illegal alien amnesty act, because it’s only fair to those poor illegals.

You can’t have a welfare state like ours with open borders. They want to come here to work? Ok, fine, absolutely NO welfare benefits, no food stamps, no housing, no translators, no emergency room health care for the sniffles or to check on mom’s new nino, they MUST get a driver’s license and insurance and their babies are NOT American citizens eligible for benefits. Oh, and a 20% tax on monies wired back home just to cover the social costs of policing and tracking them.

Did I cover it all?

...the group of border mayors, county judges and community leaders said the federal government violated the rights of landowners and intimidated them into signing away, for a $100 payment, rights to come on their land and prepare for building the fence.

Sounds to me like the Texas Border Coalition is made up of a bunch of bureaucrats meddling in the affairs of the landowners who were more than happy to cede some of their property for the fence.

Message From Chair
The Texas Border Coalition (TBC) is a collective voice of Border Mayors, County Judges, Economic Development Commissions focused on issues that affect more than 6 million people along the Texas-Mexico Border Region and Economically Disadvantaged Counties from El Paso to Brownsville. TBC is working closely with the Texas legislature to educate, advocate, and secure funding for Transportation, Immigration and Ports of Entry, Workforce and Education and for Healthcare.
A Collective Voice of Border Communities

Honorable Mayor Chad Foster, City of Eagle Pass
Honorable Mayor Eddie Trevino, Jr., City of Brownville
Honorable Mayor Efrain Valdez, City of Del Rio
Honorable Mayor Joe Ochoa, City of Edinburg
Honorable Mayor John F. Cook, City of El Paso
Honorable Richard Rodriguez, City of Harlingen
Honorable Mayor Raul G. Salinas, City of Laredo
Honorable Mayor Richard Cortez, City of McAllen
Honorable Mayor Norberto Salinas, City of Missión
Honorable Mayor Leopoldo Palacios, Jr., City of Pharr
Honorable Mayor Joe V. Sanchez, City of Weslaco
Honorable Mayor John David Franz, City of Hidalgo
A few words from Mayor Chad Foster, City of Eagle Pass, TBC Chairman
I’m CHAD FOSTER, and I am proud to be the Mayor of the City of Eagle Pass, Texas and equally proud to be the President of the Texas Border Coalition.
The Texas Border Coalition has been a collective voice of Border Mayors, County Judges, and communities on issues that affect our unique way of life where, unlike other cities, our local residents and sister cities are intertwined with our Mexican neighbors and families. We represent over 6 million people from El Paso to Brownsville. We must continue to look for solutions that will inject money back into the US/Mexico economies with dialog from forums such as these for a vibrant border.

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