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colindotpdx · 5 years

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In America: But On The Wrong Side of the Wall

A large majority of Americans believe that Pres.Tump’s “beautiful wall” will do nothing to stop the illegal movement of people or drugs; the people can use Aero Mexico, the drugs come in by truck, and they can both use the tunnels if needed. The presidential frenzy to “finish that wall” continues, nonetheless, fueled by his apparently bottomless septic pit of bad faith.

The plans made public for the wall in the Rio Grande valley indicate a fence and a border patrol road to follow the levees that contain the river; much like the sections already in place that wrap around Brownsville and McAllen. These levees are generally on private property and often a good distance from the river and border. So if your property happens to be on the wrong side of the levee, the plans call for it to be condemned, isolated, or bulldozed.

To see what that means we visited three places on the wrong side to talk to people and see what is happening.

The Jackson Chapel is in San Juan, a suburb of McAllen, and its attached cemetery has been a burial ground for the indigenous Carrizo Indians for millennia before Europeans swept through here. The stones now show largely hispanic graves and there is a small area for veterans from WWI onwards. Today there is a large group of volunteers from the local community and other native American tribes camped in solidarity and ready to resist any construction that might occur. They made us very welcome in explaining what was at stake here and the photographs show the levee right at the back of the graves that would carry the fence and isolate or destroy this site.

There has been a Lomita Chapel in Mission since 1767 and this one was built in 1865 for the aid and support of traveling missionaries from the Cavalry of Christ serving the local ranches. It is now a delightful public park and place of quiet reflection that is also on the wrong side of the proposed wall. When we visited there was, of course, a ubiquitous white Customs and Border Patrol truck with its green stripe perched on the levee keeping a look out for undesirables.

The National Butterfly Center is an educational non-profit also in Mission with about half its land inside the levee providing a hiking path to the wetlands and the river that will all disappear with a fence. The team there told us about a meeting that evening where the local community was planning to meet the ACLU to learn about their rights to prepare for what is next. We found Frances Madeson packing her homemade granola to be handed out at the meeting; she called it “Border Wall Crumble” which has a nice aspirational ring to it as a bumper sticker or hashtag.

When we say “community” here we mean people of color or people with few resources and even less influence; a community that has a history of being ignored by elected officials and abused by people in uniform who act solely for business interests. This is a group that has no history of resistance.

There are a number of fears that the Wall brings into this environment:

- The construction project is a funnel of money with precious little oversight delivered to those who are connected . The costs for a simple fence are astronomical. In addition, the ReadID Act of 2005 gives the Department of Homeland Security extraordinary powers to waive compliance with 48 different laws in order to build a wall. “Clean Air Act? Clean Water Act? Why should a wall damage our water?”

- The wall will make it easier for CBP to round up migrants and asylum seekers and flush them into the for-profit prison industry system where the Supreme Court just said they can be legally detained indefinitely; generating millions of dollars a day of profits.

- The wall will be in America and block access to previously public areas used for recreation or education. The wall with armed guards will then also block access for observation of anything else that is happening on the “outside” of the wall but inside America.

- Because this is Texas, the oil and gas industry is smelling opportunity everywhere and the Jackson Cemetery area is already slated to be a corridor for a gas pipeline and an LNG terminal.

All these points create a recipe for corruption that will last forever. Overall we have a new Border-Industrial Complex that is built on opportunism and cynicism and will be very hard to undo even with a new President and Senate.

Human grief be damned; we’re making money here so get out of the way.

For more on the history of the Texas Rangers read “The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas’ by Monica Muñoz Martinez

Federal laws waived by DHS for construction of border wall include:

1.National Environmental Policy Act [NEPA]2.Endangered Species Act3.Clean Water Act4.National Historic Preservation Act5.Migratory Bird Treaty Act6.Clean Air Act7.Archeological Resources Protection Act8.Safe Drinking Water Act9.Noise Control Act10.Solid Waste Disposal Act11.Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act12.Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act13.Antiquities Act14.Historic Sites, Buildings, and Antiquities Act15.Wild and Scenic Rivers Act16.Farmland Protection Policy Act17.Coastal Zone Management Act18.Wilderness Act19.Federal Land Policy and Management Act20.National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act21.Fish and Wildlife Act of 195622.Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act23.Administrative Procedure Act24.Otay Mountain Wilderness Act of 199925.California Desert Protection Act [Sections 102(29) and 103 of Title I]26.National Park Service Organic Act27.National Park Service General Authorities Act28.National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 [Sections 401(7), 403, and 404]29.Arizona Desert Wilderness Act [Sections 301(a)-(f)]30.Rivers and Harbors Act of 189931.Eagle Protection Act32.Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act33.American Indian Religious Freedom Act34.Religious Freedom Restoration Act35.National Forest Management Act of 197636.Multiple Use and Sustained Yield Act of 196037.Military Lands Withdrawal Act of 199938.Sikes Act39.Arizona-Idaho Conservation Act of 198840.Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act of 197741.Migratory Bird Conservation Act42.Paleontological Resources Preservation Act43.Federal Cave Resources Protection Act of 198844.National Trails System Act45.National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 199746.Reclamation Project Act of 1939 [Section 10]47.Wild Horse and Burro Act48.An Act of Oct 30, 2000, Pub. L. 106-398, 1, 114 Stat. 1654

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