U.S.-Mexico Border wall blocking free migration
from the Arizona Daily Star
WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled U.S. House approved a bill today that would allow the Border Patrol to circumvent more than a dozen environmental laws on all federally managed lands within 100 miles of the borders with Mexico and Canada.
The newest member of Congress, Tucson Democrat Ron Barber, crossed party lines to vote for the bill shortly after he was sworn into office Tuesday.
“Border security is the No. 1 priority for the people who live and work along our nation’s southern border,” Barber, who represents portions of the Arizona border region with Mexico, said in a written statement. “There is no doubt that this bill will make our borders more secure. But this legislation is far from perfect and I will work to make changes as it moves through the process.”
Tucson’s other House member, Democrat Rep. Raúl Grijalva, voted against the bill, saying it would sacrifice crucial environmental protections to advance an anti-immigrant and anti-regulatory agenda.
Besides the border measure, the bill also would transfer control of more than 65,000 acres of centuries-old trees in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest to a private corporation.
the community left behind… the community that has papers can rebuild, clucking shame at the government, after their neighbor was taken, but what about those affected more deeply, what about those who have a deeper fear in their hearts, anxiety inside their skins, that maybe they too can be stolen (kidnapped) away from their children and others they love? they dont settle back like birds into trees. i get your poetic point, but its not real. real is ripped apart and bleeding. real is more like the animals whose migration paths are completely destroyed by the wall. theres no poetic justice to the war on the border, or the ways it extends to every tiny town in the u.s.. but that doesnt mean that in the end freedom of movement won’t win.