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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 10 OctOber 2018

Homeland Security to waive laws for South Texas border gates

By NOMAAN MERCHANT, ing private property.
Associated Press The proposed gates would
HOUSTON (AP) — The U.S. seal some of those gaps in
Department of Homeland Cameron County. U.S. Cus-
Security said Tuesday that toms and Border Protection
it will waive environmental typically grants affected
laws so it can build gates residents access to the
between sections of bor- gates so they can get to
der barriers in South Texas' the other side of their land.
Rio Grande Valley. The government also sepa-
The waiver posted online rately plans to begin build-
lists 11 locations where the ing new barriers to fulfill
government plans to install President Donald Trump's
gates in existing fencing. signature campaign
DHS has in recent months pledge to build a border
issued similar waivers of en- wall. Congress earlier this
vironmental laws for other year approved $1.6 billion In this Aug. 11, 2017, file photo, a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol vehicle passes along a section
projects to construct bar- for new border wall spend- of border levee wall in Hidalgo, Texas.
riers along the southwest ing, which included fund- Associated Press
border. ing for 33 miles (53 kilome-
The U.S. government al- ters) of construction in the ridor for illegal border cross- Act, the Clean Water Act, else in the country."
ready has around 700 miles Rio Grande Valley. ings, and U.S. government and about two dozen oth- Scott Nicol, a resident of the
(1,126 kilometers) of fenc- Some of the planned con- officials say it is targeted by er laws. region who co-chairs the
ing on the southwest bor- struction would cut through human and drug traffick- The waiver "continues to Sierra Club's Borderlands
der. In far South Texas, seg- the National Butterfly Cen- ers. chip away at crucial pro- team, said it appeared
ments of fencing stop and ter and other environmen- In the waiver, DHS Secretary tections for people and several gates would affect
start along the levee built tally sensitive areas. It may Kirstjen Nielsen writes that wildlife in the Rio Grande access to farmland on the
next to the Rio Grande, also leave some border there is "an acute and im- Valley," said Laiken Jordahl other side of existing fenc-
the river separating the U.S. town residents on the so- mediate need to construct of the Center for Biological ing. But he said the govern-
and Mexico. Many parts of called "Mexican side," still physical barriers and roads" Diversity. ment had not adequately
the fencing are built a sig- on American land but cut along the border. Nielsen "They deserve clean air, informed residents or tried
nificant distance from the off by a wall. waived regulations under clean water and the same to have a community
river, in some cases bisect- The valley is the busiest cor- the Endangered Species legal rights as everyone dialogue.q

Politically charged case heads to the Supreme Court

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, and others acted improp- The Justice Department month, he said the deposi- request to do so last De-
NEW YORK (AP) — Newly erly. It gave the govern- did not immediately re- tion must be limited to four cember from the Justice
sworn in Supreme Court ment two days to appeal spond to a request for hours. Department. "The record
Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the high court. comment. He said it was necessary for developed thus far, how-
may face his first politically A three-judge panel in The appeals court order Ross to answer questions ever, casts grave doubt
charged case after a fed- Manhattan said a lower- came after a dozen states because he was "person- on those claims," the judge
eral appeals court on Tues- court judge, Jesse M. Fur- and big cities sued, saying ally and directly involved wrote. "There is something
day ordered Commerce man, made detailed fac- that Ross acted improp- in the decision, and the un- surprising, if not unsettling,
Secretary Wilbur Ross to be tual findings supporting his erly. They claim the citizen- usual process leading to it, about defendants' aggres-
deposed about putting a conclusion that Ross likely ship question will discour- to an unusual degree." sive efforts to shield Sec-
citizenship question on the possesses firsthand knowl- age immigrants from par- The judge noted that Ross retary Ross from having to
2020 census. edge central to the claims. ticipating, diluting political claimed in March when answer questions about
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court It also noted that three of representation and federal the decision to add the his conduct in adding the
of Appeals in New York Ross's aides indicated only dollars for states that tend citizenship question was citizenship question to the
said Ross can be deposed the secretary himself could to vote Democratic. announced that he con- census questionnaire," Fur-
by lawyers who claim he answer certain questions. When Furman ruled last sidered adding it after a man said.q