In one case, the court refused to stop the administration from bypassing environmental reviews in building a security fence along the border between the United States and Mexico. In the other, it agreed to hear the administration’s appeal of a lower court decision that, on environmental grounds, restricted the Navy’s use of powerful sonar off the Southern California coast.
The Sierra Club doesn't like the fence. They got no love from the SCOTUS today. There's an old saying that fences make good neighbors. In this case one will also help stop the slow motion invasion of the United States by criminals and would-be terrorists.
Under the Secure Fence Act of 2006, the Homeland Security Department was authorized by Congress to build up to 700 miles of fence along the 2,000-mile Southwest border, where most illegal immigrants coming into the United States cross over, and Michael Chertoff, the secretary of the department, has several times used waiver authority that Congress included in the act. (The department said 326.5 miles of fencing had been built by June 1.)
I realize common sense and liberals are often mutually exclusive, and the concept of national sovereignty is anathema to them, but the vast majority of Americans want our borders to be secure and our laws obeyed. Allowing Mexico to export it's labor to the U.S. in an uncontrolled manner has been a disaster for many border communities and helped to artificially depress American wages. It's a stealth corporate welfare that has to stop. The drain on law enforcement and public infrastructure is unimaginable.
“I am extremely disappointed in the court’s decision,” Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, told the A.P. on Monday. Mr. Thompson, who heads the House Homeland Security Committee, and 13 other House Democrats had announced their support for challenges to Mr. Chertoff’s waiver authority, which were led by the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife.
I am extremely disappointed in the Sierra Club's lack of concern over the safety of American citizens. Many years ago I read an opinion (voiced, I believe. by Strib columnist Jim Klobuchar) that ran thus: "If we can't stop people from bringing bales of marijuana over the border, how are we going to stop someone from bringing a nuclear bomb across?" Or a chemical or biological weapon, for that matter. I am frankly amazed it hasn't happened yet.
Protestations that there is no fence on the border with Canada are facile, at best. Drugs and people aren't pouring into this country through the BWCA. Stepped up security at crossing points has already stopped some attackers from trying. The simple fact is smuggling networks are firmly established south of the border, and they are rightly seen as America's principle vulnerability.
Concern for wildlife is justifiable, and I sympathize with the landowners that decry government intrusion, however national security trumps those concerns. Without it there can be no Sierra Club. This is an unfortunate but necessary step to prevent a pre-apocalyptic America from becoming post-apocalyptic.
Labels: national security, Open Borders
