Excellent letter-to-the-editor by Sarah Loftus... Maine against border deal Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and John Hoeven, R-N.D., introduced their amendment to the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform bill last week to require hundreds of miles of border walls be added to the existing 651 miles and doubling the size of the U.S. border patrol by adding 20,000 agents. The estimated cost of this endeavor is expected to top $48 billion in 10 years during a time when we need taxpayer money to focus on improving the economy and the lives of our people. Washington should be building new roads, improving schools and carrying out projects that stimulate the economy, not wasting money on border walls and technology that have already proven ineffective in tackling immigration. Last year alone the U.S. spent $18 billion on immigration enforcement — more than all other federal law enforcement combined. Our borderland communities, the sensitive ecosystems along the Rio Grande in Texas and the awesome desert landscapes of the Southwest, are already overrun with excessive numbers of Border Patrol vehicles, agents, towers and buildings. We have more than 650 miles of border fence that only serve to bisect communities and devastate the borderlands environment. The Corker amendment will expand upon Bush-era legislation that allows Homeland Security and Border Patrol to completely waive 37 environmental laws including the Clean Air Act, Historic Preservation Act and the Endangered Species Act, to name a few. We should not unnecessarily sacrifice taxpayer money, the environment and our border communities to appease a few Republican senators with an amendment that will do nothing but harm. Sarah Loftus Bar Harbor bangordailynews/2013/06/30/opinion/monday-july-1-2013-lockman-immigration-and-state-changes/
Posted on: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 17:04:08 +0000
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