Border fence sitters strike suit against Chertoff

Washington Times:

Members of the Texas Border Coalition yesterday said Department of Homeland Security officials "lied" about reaching out to Texas landowners over the U.S.-Mexico border fence, and filed a class-action lawsuit against Secretary Michael Chertoff demanding he give landowners more say before the fence is built.

Under the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, the group of border mayors, county judges and community leaders said the federal government violated the rights of landowners and intimidated them into signing away, for a $100 payment, rights to come on their land and prepare for building the fence.

"What's being forced upon us is not the American way," Brownsville Mayor Pat M. Ahumada Jr. told reporters and editors at The Washington Times.

"The fact that they hoodwinked the stakeholders into believing they had no choice but to give the government the right to access to the land for six months to do whatever they want was dishonest, disingenuous and I think illegal, and that's why we're filing the lawsuit," Mr. Ahumada said.

The suit is the latest escalation in what has become a bitter back-and-forth between the federal government and local officials on the Texas border. Earlier this year Mr. Chertoff waived environmental restrictions to push construction of the fence along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, and his department has gone to court to try to force access to dozens of sites it says are blocking access to lay plans for construction.

According to the coalition, top Homeland Security officials are wrong when they claim to have consulted with local governments, and they have treated Texas communities with indifference or deceit.

"They lie over and over again," said Dennis E. Nixon, president and CEO of Texas-based International Bancshares Corp. and a member of the coalition.

But Homeland Security officials said they've done the proper groundwork.

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I question the premise of the suit and the credibility of the charges. Many of those who oppose the fence have never been willing to engage the government in good faith negotiations, much less permit it to do the work necessary to determine where the fence should be and what it should look like. They just want to stop it anyway they can and this law suit is just another means to that end. Their selfish attempts to stop border enforcement appear to be what is driving this complaint. Some people just don't like change. These guys are the border Luddites.