House Republicans yesterday appeared headed toward passing a bill giving the government vast new power to build roads and barriers along the U.S. border with Mexico, exempt from judicial review as well as environmental, conservation and labor laws.
Republicans say they are just trying to keep illegal immigrants from crossing Smuggler's Gulch, but environmental and conservation groups warn that the price would be allowing the federal government to mar wildlife refuges and pristine canoeing waters.
The new power for the Department of Homeland Security is part of a package that Republicans are calling "border security protections" designed to deter terrorist attacks.
The bill, called the "Real I.D. Act," would impose on states tougher standards for the issuing of driver's licenses for identification at airports and federal buildings. The law would also make it easier for judges to deport suspected terrorists and harder for potential terrorists to gain political asylum.
The bill, introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), was debated yesterday. House leaders said they expect passage by a wide margin today. It contains measures that Sensenbrenner and other conservatives wanted in the intelligence restructuring bill passed in December, but that were dropped because of objections from the Senate.
Human rights groups and some religious leaders have asserted that the bill would severely undermine the government's commitment to protecting people who have fled persecution.
But the section of greatest concern to opponents is aimed at helping the government close a three-mile gap in a 14-mile fence in the San Diego area. But the gap, known as Smuggler's Gulch, covers wetlands and an estuary, and officials want to complete construction of the fence without fear of litigation.
The bill amends federal statutes to give the Department of Homeland Security the power to waive laws "to ensure expeditious construction of the barriers and roads" covered by the measure.
An analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service concluded that the "waiver authority provided by this amendment would also seem to apply to all the barriers that may be constructed" under current immigration law, in the vicinity of the border.
Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.), a major proponent of the bill, said the legislation is primarily aimed at finishing the San Diego fence. "We know that there are people who will look for any hurdle they can to prevent completion of the fence," he said. "We wanted to be sure that there would not be another shoe to fall."
However, the watchdog group OMB Watch warned that the bill "would place Homeland Security above the law."
A coalition of major environmental groups -- including Defenders of Wildlife, Friends of the Earth, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club -- contends that the bill would allow the Homeland Security Department "to undertake large construction projects anywhere along our borders," including "pristine islands and waters."
The new federal power over roads and fences could be stopped if Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.) is successful in gaining approval for an amendment to be debated today that would strip out that section of the bill. Leaders have ruled that his proposed amendment can be considered.
