About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

1 1 (November 28, 2005)

handle is hein.crs/crsuntaabyo0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 


                                                                 Order Code  RS22026
                                                          Updated  November  28, 2005



     CRS Report for Congress

                 Received through the CRS Web



         Border Security: Fences Along the
                  U.S.   International Border

                             Bias Nuiez-Neto
                       Analyst in Domestic  Security
                       Domestic Social Policy Division

                             Stephen  R. Viia
                           Legislative Attorney
                           American Law  Division

Summary


     This report outlines the issues involved with the Department of Homeland
 Security's (DHS's) completion of a three-tiered, 14-mile fence, along the border near
 San Diego, California. The state of California delayed completion of the fence due
 primarily to legal and policy conflicts with its federally-approved, state-run Coastal
 Management Program. Former authorization for the fence only allowed the waiver of
 the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. During the
 109th Congress, provisions to facilitate the completion of the border fence were included
 in the REAL ID Act of 2005 (H.R. 418), which was subsequently added to H.R. 1268,
 the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, and signed into law on May 11, 2005
 (P.L. 109-13). The border fence provisions allow the Secretary of DHS to waive all
 legal requirements determined necessary to ensure expeditious construction of
 authorized barriers and roads. In September of 2005, the Secretary announced that he
 was using this authority to waive a number of laws. This report will be updated as
 warranted.


 Background

     The United States Border Patrol (USBP) is the lead federal agency charged with
securing the U.S. international border. In the early 1990s, the USBP incorporated the
construction of physical barriers directly on the border into their National Strategic Plan
as part of the Prevention Through Deterrence strategy, which called for reducing
unauthorized migration by placing agents and resources directly on the border abutting
population centers. The USBP first constructed border fencing in the San Diego sector,
which extends inland from the Pacific Ocean along the international land border with
Mexico, and covers approximately 7,000 square miles of territory. Located north of
Tijuana and Tecate, Mexican cities with a combined population of 2 million people, the


Congressional Research Service ** The Library of Congress

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most