ENR by Mary B. Powers 8/9/2020
Despite stiff opposition from landowners and community groups, and a U.S. Dept of Homeland Security Inspector General report that questions building a U.S.-Mexico barrier through the close border city of Laredo, Texas, the Customs and Border Protection agency has awarded a second wall construction contract there.
The city of nearly 265,000, the tenth largest in Texas, is built on the banks of the Rio Grande directly across from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Agency officials claimed in a recent statement it is a hot spot of illegal border crossing for drugs and undocumented persons, with most of that in areas that "lack infrastructure, access, mobility and technology."
Observers counter that Laredo has no problem with illegal activity except at four river bridges that are ports of entry and will not be blocked by the barrier. Border patrol agency (CBP) officials "plan to build a wall along the entire riverfront of Laredo including a 150-ft. security enforcement zone. It will be a profound loss,†says Tricia Cortez, executive director of the Rio Grande International Study Center.
Meanwhile, in an Aug. 7 action related to continuing controversy over administration diversion of military construction and other allocated funds for wall building, a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. sent back for reconsideration a decision by a lower court judge appointed by President Donald Trump who ruled that the judiciary has no jurisdiction to hear the funding dispute between Congress and the executive branch.
The House of Representatives had argued that the move was a violation of its appropriation authority under the Constitution. But US district court Judge Trevor McFadden said the Constitution stiupulates "independence" of the judiciary, which requires that the courts “take no active resolution whatever†in political fights between the other branches.
The appeals court ruled, however, that “there is no general bar against the House of Representative’s standing in all cases†that involve disputes between the branches of government, so the lower court now must reconsider its ruing in light of that interpretation
More:
https://www.enr.com/articles/49843-texas-landowners-elevate-us-border-wall-building-battle
