Homeland Security waives legal requirements for California border construction project

Seeking to expedite construction of barriers on the international border with Mexico near Calexico, California, the Department of Homeland Security issued this week a waiver for certain legal regulations.

Calling on powers invested in them by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), the DHS has authority to waive a variety of environmental, natural resource and land management laws. The move in the El Centro Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol is part of the department’s moves to implement an executive order from President Donald Trump, which directed a wall to be built along the border. This is in spite of the fact that Congress has not yet appropriated funds for such a wall to be built.

As the DHS takes steps to plan, design and construct the border wall, El Centro plays a big part in operations. A three-mile segment of the border that stretches from Calexico West port of entry and stretches west, requires two miles of existing pedestrian fencing–built in the 1990s–to be replaced with a bollard wall. This particular part of the project was in fact funded by Congress, under the FY 2017 DHS Appropriations Act.

The reason for this is the critical role El Centro plays in illegal actions. In 2016 alone, the U.S. Border Patrol arrested more than 19,400 illegal aliens and seized around 2,899 pounds of marijuana, as well as 126 pounds of cocaine.