Congress, our borders and Homeland Security...

[fighttotheend]

This week, the Senate could take action that would endanger both wildlife and people living near America's borders. It is considering attaching an amendment to its Iraq war and tsunami relief funding bill that would give one person, the politically-appointed Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, unprecedented exemptions from every law on the books, including environmental laws, when constructing roads, fences, walls, and other barriers along America's nearly 7,500 miles of borders.

The exemptions in would apply to all U.S. borders with both Mexico and Canada, and threaten national parks, forests and monuments, wildlife refuges, wilderness areas and other environmentally sensitive areas. The bill also eliminates Americans' ability to know what their federal government is doing and, by making the Secretary's decision to waive laws unreviewable by any court, places the Department above the law and denies Americans the right to seek remedies for damage caused by the government's borderland activities.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Send a free fax to your Senators urging them to oppose these unnecessary and sweeping exemptions from the laws that protect our air, water, land, wildlife, and communities. Urge him or her to oppose the addition of H.R. 418, The REAL ID Act, to the supplemental appropriations bill, both now and when the bill gets closer to becoming law.
Send a message to Congress that we can achieve national security while protecting the American borderland environment.