Get Herald RSSWith the 2008 presidential elections right around the corner, presidential candidates have entertained extensive debate over the issue of illegal immigration. Former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican presidential candidate, fired the construction company working on his home because it was employing undocumented immigrants. The issue of illegal immigration is undoubtedly going to play an influential role in the 2008 presidential elections.
The Pew Hispanic Center utilized data from the U.S. Census Bureau's March 2005 Current Population Survey to estimate the U.S. population of undocumented immigrants at 12 million, with over half from Mexico and nearly a quarter from other Latin American countries. The high numbers of undocumented immigrants coming from Mexico to the U.S. have frequently been cited by political conservatives as a cause of America's declining economy. The main argument that many conservatives often cite is that the undocumented immigrants are taking jobs from Americans. In order to limit the influx of illegal immigration from Mexico, President Bush has signed H.R. 6061, which enables the Department of Homeland Security to build a 700-mile fence along the border between Mexico and the U.S. Personal opinions on immigration aside, the construction of a border fence would be horribly detrimental to the U.S. economy, to the environment and to the seemingly infinite cultural exchanges that take place between Mexico and the U.S. along the border everyday.
Many conservative Republicans, such as Texas Governor Rick Perry, have stated that the border should actually be less restrictive and that more money should be invested in supporting legal immigration. The Laredo, Texas, City Council unanimously voted to not support any expansion of a barrier along the border. The mayor of Laredo, Raul Salinas, stated in a National Public Radio report, "These are people that are sustaining our economy by forty percent, and I am gonna close the door on them and put a wall? You don't do that. It's like a slap in the face."
Disregarding the relationships and cultural exchanges that have become a normal and even necessary part of everyday life in many border communities like Laredo is not the only reason one should take objection to H.R. 6061. The construction of the border fence will divide the land and families of the O'odham, Cocopah and Kickapoo Native-American Nations that live along the border. Furthermore, the vice president of the University of Texas at Brownsville argued in the New York Times that the border fence will divide the Brownsville campus into two different areas. In addition, many environmentalists and wildlife experts have suggested that the construction of the border fence will greatly harm the delicate desert environment in which many animals live.
The construction of the fence has already proven to be an incredibly inefficient process. At least one section of the border fence was mistakenly built in an undesignated area - a mistake that is going to cost American tax payers upwards of $3 million.
Though I imagine the Department of Homeland Security will not lose any sleep over a measly $3 million, the Department of Homeland Security has reserved $1.2 billion for "border security."
Even if one were okay with the Department of Homeland Security making a $3-million mistake, displacing wildlife and harming the environment along the border as well as dividing a multitude of communities that live along the border, one must object to Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and his blatant abuse of the Real ID Act. The Real ID Act states, "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall have the authority to waive all legal requirements such Secretary, in such Secretary's sole discretion, determines necessary to ensure expeditious construction of the barriers and roads under this section." Chertoff has used the Real ID Act to justify violating a multitude of laws: the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Coastal Zone Management Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and the National Historic Preservation Act to extend triple fencing through the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve near San Diego. Chertoff has easily avoided these laws because the language of the Real ID Act greatly limits the extent to which the decisions of the Secretary of the Homeland of Security can be subject to judicial review.
If one does not object to the construction of the border fence then one must be without objection to unchecked powers. The Real ID Act has made Chertoff a very powerful man - a man who is not limited by the law. By avoiding so many laws in constructing the border fence, Chertoff has avoided justice. The border fence is therefore being built on a foundation of extensive injustices. Regardless of my opinions concerning illegal immigration, I do not want Chertoff to use my tax-dollars to create such injustices. The construction of this border fence and Chertoff's unchecked powers must cease immediately.
Michael Ramos-Lynch '09 wants to jump the border fence to avoid this New England weather.
