Rep. Vela tries to block more border fencing for Rio Grande Valley; McCaul leads racist efforts
BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS – U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela has failed at the committee hearing level to stop ten more miles of border fencing from being built in the Rio Grande Valley.
According to Scott Nicol, co-chair of the Sierra Club’s Borderlands Team, the ten miles of fencing are likely to be built in Roma and Rio Grande City and they could be double-layered. He said the fencing could be constructed inside 18 months.
Vela, D-Brownsville, unsuccessfully offered an amendment to H.R. 399, authored by U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul and otherwise known as the Secure Our Border First Act of 2015. The amendment would have struck down a mandate in the bill that requires the Department of Homeland Security to construct an additional 37 miles of fencing on the southwest border.
Republicans have a solid majority on the House Homeland Security Committee and the vote – 18 to 12 -on McCaul’s bill went on party lines. McCaul, R-Austin, chairs the panel. He said his bill would direct additional equipment and resources to the southern border, including unmanned aerial vehicles, new border fencing and National Guard troops. His bill is expected to be debated by the U.S. House on Wednesday.
Read more: http://riograndeguardian.com/vela-tries-to-block-more-border-fencing-for-rgv/
Last week U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, R-Austin, introduced the “Secure Our Borders First” Act in an obvious bid to strike back at President Obama for his executive order on immigration.
Pure politics at its worst, McCaul’s bill will tear apart South Texas communities and our environment and transform our cities into a war zone just to make a political point, at a cost of ten billion taxpayer dollars.
McCaul’s bill requires military hardware and tactics along the entire border, whether or not the Department of Homeland Security and Border Patrol think they will be useful.
When he was interviewed by FOX News on Wednesday McCaul said of his bill, “We’re gonna take the discretion away from the Department {of Homeland Security} and we’re gonna mandate how they get this thing done through the deployment of assets, uh, through the deployment of military assets from Afghanistan and other places to the Southwest border and maritime as well.”
Read more: http://riograndeguardian.com/nicol-mccauls-assault-on-border-communities-and-the-borderlands/
