Tamez sues Chertoff (border fence - Brownsville)

[sonias]

Rio Grande Guardian
Tamez sues Chertoff

7 February 2008
By Steve Taylor and Joey Gomez

BROWNSVILLE, February 7 - UTB-TSC professor Eloisa Tamez sued Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff Wednesday over the attempted confiscation of her land for border fence scoping purposes.

Tamez, whose strong opposition to a border fence has garnered national attention, is joined by another San Benito resident, Benito J. Garcia, in the lawsuit, which has also been filed against Robert F. Janson, acting executive director of asset management at U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Brownsville. Tamez is due to appear for a hearing in the same court today after being sued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for not allowing Border Patrol access to her land for surveying purposes.

Attorney Abner Burnett, of the Texas Civil Rights Project in San Juan, said he hopes Judge Andrew S. Hanen will certify the lawsuit class action status.

Happy to see TCRP is part of this lawsuit. I hope they do get class action status.

:applause:

Sonia

[sonias]

1. Related story different landowner

Rio Grande Guardian
TRLA files motion on behalf of Valley landowner

By Joey Gomez
2/5/08

McALLEN, February 5 - Texas RioGrande Legal Aid filed a motion Monday in federal court in response to the Department of Homeland Security's lawsuit, claiming it broke the law when it sued Rio Grande Valley landowners.

TRLA, a nonprofit organization that provides free legal services to low-income clients, is asking that DHS's requests for access to land in the construction of a wall along the Texas-Mexico border be denied, and a hearing be conducted.

Homeland Security did not negotiate with any of the landowners who have been sued, their actions are illegal, and their requests should be denied according to TRLA attorney Robert Doggett.

Keep it up Valley land owners!

Sonia

[sonias]

2. Deal eliminates need for Hidalgo County border fence

AAS 2/9/08
Deal eliminates need for Hidalgo County border fence
About 22 miles of levees will be altered to double as federal barrier along Rio Grande.

EDINBURG — The federal government and local officials in one border county announced Friday that they had reached a compromise that would eliminate the need for the much-maligned border fencing there.

Private land in Hidalgo County border towns such as Granjeno, where dozens of homes could have been lost behind the fence in a no-man's land along the border with Mexico, would no longer be threatened by a land grab, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said.

But the 22 miles of combined levee and border wall under the compromise would be a small portion of the 370 miles of border barriers that Homeland Security is charged with building by the end of the year.

(snip)
Because Homeland Security is responsible for border security and natural disasters such as flooding, the Hidalgo County solution to modify levees along the Rio Grande with an 18-foot sheer face on the river side satisfied Chertoff.

I hate that wall. :grr:


Sonia

[cosmik debris]

3. Three points.

1. TCRP finds itself on the right side of a lot of important issues. If anyone has some spare time or spare cash there is a "volunteer" link and a "donate" link here. (shameless plug)

http://www.texascivilrightsproject.org/

2. But on the point of the post, if the wall doesn't work, it is an enormous waste of money, an environmental and social disaster, and a major foreign policy blunder. If the wall does work then the threat wasn't very big in the first place. So why waste the money and destroy so much value?

3. This wall project may guarantee that South Texas will vote overwhelmingly Democratic. In fact the southern counties may make Texas a Blue State! And I think that is sweet revenge!

[WolverineDG]

4. #3 is part of the reason

they aren't agitating for a wall separating the US & Canada. Too many R votes to lose. Better to pick on the brown people & secure the KKK vote instead.

dg

[sonias]

5. I can tell you about TCRP personally

They handled our first amendment rights case and won. It took 6 years between the lower courts and 3rd court of appeals but we won eventually!!

They're also handling the electronic voting lawsuit case against the SOS and state of Texas for us. NAACP, David Van Os and me the lowly individual voter. Our case is the only one that's survived after two years. Every motion to dismiss our case by the state has been denied in the courts. Our court date is now late March. TCRP rocks!
:yourock:

By the way you can sign up to make monthly donations to them as well. I do because they do such good work.
:applause:

Sonia

[WolverineDG]

6. Yup

TCRP is assisting land owners who don't financially or otherwise qualify for assistance with TRLA. :bounce:

dg