The Department of Homeland Security has again waived a host of federal laws to speed up border wall construction in Arizona. This is the latest of several waivers DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has issued since this summer.
A federal law created in the 1990s and amended in 2005 gives DHS heads like Noem the authority to waive dozens of federal laws for border wall construction.
This waiver, issued Nov. 19, is for construction between two border monument markers. Myles Traphagen, with the Wildlands Network, says it would start just east of the Tohono O’odham Nation and extend into New Mexico — and much of that area already has border waivers dating back to 2019.
“So we’re essentially looking at a club sandwich of waivers, where they’re piled on top of each other. And I don’t really know the utility of that,” he said. “The waivers don’t expire unless they’re repealed.”
Traphagen says much of the area also already has a wall. This latest waiver could be used to build the so-called Smart Wall — a secondary barrier announced earlier this year that would include lights, surveillance and a physical structure. But it’s not clear yet what exactly that will entail.
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It's the final ruling in a case that began last year, when the Trump administration announced plans to build a 30-foot steel bollard wall along some 27-miles of San Rafael Valley and waived a host of laws to speed-up construction.
