Forbes: Panel Fears Border Fence Violates Treaty
A planned, much-debated fence along the U.S.-Mexico border designed to keep people from crossing the Rio Grande could exacerbate flooding and skew the national boundary, a binational commission said Wednesday.
An impermeable fence anywhere between the river and levees, which can be as far as 1 1/2 miles from the river itself, could cause flooding in addition to violating a 1970 treaty, said Sally Spener, spokeswoman for the International Boundary and Water Commission.
The treaty declared the international boundary at the midpoint of the river and prohibited construction of anything that could deflect or obstruct the water flow and harm the other side….
Washington Post - Lawmakers Brace for Immigration Backlash
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration and key congressional Democrats and Republicans stepped up their efforts to sell a broad immigration compromise Thursday as lawmakers braced for a public backlash at home.
“Many Americans are rightly skeptical about immigration reform,” President Bush said in a Rose Garden news conference. “This bill provides the best chance to reform our immigration system and help us make certain we know who’s in our country and where they are.”
With Congress set to break for a weeklong Memorial Day recess, supporters and opponents of the compromise were scrambling to shape public perceptions of the immigration overhaul.
Brownsville Herald - Senators slip border fence amendment in immigration bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — Texas’ senators slipped an amendment into the Senate immi-gration bill now being debated to try to give people and officials in the state more say on where border fencing is erected.
The amendment, sponsored by Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, R-N.M., and co-sponsored by Texas Sen. John Cornyn, passed by a voice vote and requires the Department of Homeland Security to take into consideration concerns raised by states, local governments and property owners in places where fences would be constructed.
The larger immigration bill in which the amendment was included is still being debated and won’t come up for a vote until June. The House has not consid-ered an immigration bill yet.
Washington Technology - DHS approves second wireless Border Net test
The Homeland Security Department will start a second wireless test of its Border Net project in the Great Lakes region of the United States.
Rod MacDonald, the Customs and Border Protection Directorate’s assistant commissioner, said May 21 that the program will build on lessons learned in an Arizona pilot test, which examined how different devices connected to the directorate’s database through assorted wireless connections.
“The Arizona pilot was pretty successful,” MacDonald said during a panel discussion at the Homeland Security Science and Technology Stakeholders Conference in Washington. “We will now talk to [the Secure Border Initiative] about how to bring those lessons learned into the program.”
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