border wall

POSSIBLE KUMEYAAY CREMATION SITE SPARKS NEW BID TO HALT BORDER WALL PROJECT

By Ken Stone, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo:  Members of the Kumeyaay tribe danced at the beginning of the Women’s March rally in 2019. Photo by Chris Stone

November 27, 2020 (San Diego) - The surprise discovery of possible human remains at Kumeyaay cultural sites has sparked a new attempt to halt border wall construction — even with 14 of 15 miles of the bollards already done.


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FEDERAL JUDGE SIDES WITH TRUMP FOR NOW IN TRIBAL SUIT OVER BORDER WALL

By Ken Stone, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo:  A section of new, steel bollard-style replacement wall goes up near Calexico. CBP photo by Mani Albrecht

August 28, 2020 (Campo) - A federal judge handed the Trump administration a victory Thursday by refusing to halt construction of a section of border wall near Campo.


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ACLU TAKES BORDER WALL FIGHT TO SUPREME COURT, SEEKS HALT TO DESTRUCTION OF SACRED SITES, WILDLIFE AND PROTECTED SCENIC AREAS

By Miriam Raftery

 

File photo: A section of the old border fence being torn down in San Diego’s East County as work continues on new wall despite lawsuit and pandemic

 

July 23, 2020 (Washington D.C.) -- The American Civil Liberties Union yesterday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt construction of President Trump’s border wall. In a motion filed on behalf of the Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition, the ACLU is urging the court to lift an earlier stay that allowed the Trump administration to divert $2.5 billion from military pay and pension funds for border wall construction that Congress had specifically denied. 


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READER’S EDITORIAL: BORDER WALL IN JACUMBA WILDERNESS THREATENS GROUNDWATER FOR COMMUNITIES AND AN ENDANGERED SPECIES, THE CRUCIFIXION THORN

By Craig Deutsche

July 5, 2020 (Jacumba) - There have been a number of articles in large newspapers about the border wall and legal challenges. Most probably the story in California is only a detail in the big picture, although there might be several unique concerns here. One concern is that the Congressional designation of the Jacumba Wilderness in 1994 is very explicit and very restrictive in what is permitted within the boundaries.

More recently in 2019, the Department of Homeland Security waived seventeen federal environmental laws where border security was involved in Imperial County. These included the Wilderness Act of 1964, the National Environmental Protection Act, the Clean Waters Act, and the Antiquities Act of 1906. It is under this umbrella that the work proceeds. What is less clear, is whether it is possible to set aside state and county regulations that may otherwise apply.

The pipe shown in the photo runs five or six miles from several wells outside the Jacumba Wilderness Area to the construction area at the border. The pipe is 12 inches in diameter and is intended to provide water for concrete. [Aggregate for the concrete is visible in the second photo beside the equipment.] This water is drawn from a rather limited aquifer underlying several small communities in western Imperial County.


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KUMEYAAY PROTEST HALTS DYNAMITE BLASTING AT BORDER WALL

 

 

By Helen Horvath

Photo, lefft: Dynamite charges set by the US Corps of Engineers

June 30, 2020 (Campo) – Yesterday, at the end of Tierra del Sol Road in the Campo area, a group of Kumeyaay-led people and supporters gathered early in the morning to protest the blasting of Kumeyaay cultural sites.

Many of these protesters, wearing masks due to COVID-19, were members of the Kumeyaay Original Peoples Alliance, American Indian Movement, and Warriors of Awareness. These groups  participated out of concern for the ancestral history and culture of the Kumeyaay tribes.  Black Lives Matter (BLM) and American Friends Service Committee also participated in the protest in a show of solidarity with local Native Americans. (Photo, right)


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WORKERS ON BORDER WALL AT TECATE NOT WEARING MASKS OR MAINTAINING SOCIAL DISTANCING

 

By Miriam Raftery

April 3, 2020 (Tecate) – Along the California-Mexico border at Tecate in San Diego’s East County, construction of the border wall is being done by workers not maintaining social distancing or wearing masks—despite national, state and county emergency declarations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Construction is deemed an essential business under California’s emergency order and the Trump administration has specifically deemed building the border wall essential.  But why are no precautions being taken to protect the health of workers and the public?


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TRUMP SOUGHT ALLIGATOR-FILLED MOAT, SPIKES TO SHRED FLESH, AND SHOOTING OF IMMIGRANTS: NEW YORK TIMES REPORT

By Miriam Raftery

October 2, 2019 (Washington D.C.) – A New York Times report based on interviews with a dozen White House officials describe disturbing statements by President Donald Trump last March, when he repeatedly pressed aides to take illegal actions toward migrants before ultimately ordering the border shut down. 

“Privately, the president had often talked about fortifying a border wall with a water-filled trench, stocked with snakes or alligators, prompting aides to seek a cost estimate. He wanted the wall electrified, with spikes on top that would pierce human flesh,” the Times reports. “After publicly suggesting that soldiers shoot migrants if they threw rocks, the president backed off when his staff told hm that was illegal But later in a meeting, aides recalled, he suggested that they shoot migrants in the legs to slow them down. That’s not allowed either, they told him.”

Trump attacked the Times report in a Tweet, calling it “fake news” and misspelling “moat” as “moot.”


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TRUMP VETOES CONGRESSIONAL MEASURE TO BLOCK HIS EMERGENCY DECLARATION

 

 

President also threatens to veto Senate’s passage of a bill ending support for Saudis in Yemen civil war

By Miriam Raftery
 
March 19, 2019 (Washington D.C.) — A courtroom battle looms after President Donald Trump vetoed a resolution Friday passed by both houses of Congress. The Congressional resolution rejected Trump’s emergency declaration to fund a border wall. 

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IMMIGRANT RIGHTS GROUPS SPEAK OUT AS TRUMP VISITS CA

 

Suzanne Potter, California News Service

March 14, 2018 (San Diego) -- Even as President Donald Trump wraps up his first visit to the Golden State since the election, immigrant-rights groups are embracing California's new nickname as the "State of Resistance."


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SUPERVISORS BAN WEAPONS AT BORDER WALL PROTESTS AS CONSTRUCTION OF PROTOTYPES BEGINS

 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Existing border fence in Campo

September 27, 2017 (San Diego) – Construction of eight border wall prototypes, each costing up to a half million dollars, is now underway in Otay Mesa.  After testing of alternative materials and designs built here, President Donald Trump aims to erect a wall along the entire U.S.- Mexico border at a cost of some $60 billion.  But it is unclear why San Diego was chosen for the prototypes and many local officials have raised concerns.


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ARTIST DRAWS NATIONAL ATTENTION WITH CHILD MURAL AT BORDER FENCE IN EAST COUNTY

 

By Miriam Raftery

September 10, 2017 (Tecate) – “The history of humanity is the story of people migrating,” French artist JR posted on his Twitter feed.

Drawing attention to the plight of innocent children denied entry to, or facing expulsion from the U.S. under President Donald Trump’s tough policies, JR erected a 70-foot-tall mural titled Kikito. It depicts a one-year-old boy peeking over the border fence in Tecate, visible from the U.S. side of the border in San Diego’s East County.


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TRUMP ANNOUNCES CONTRACTORS TO BUILD BORDER WALL PROTOTYPES IN SAN DIEGO, SHIFTS FUNDS FROM FEMA MEANT FOR DISASTER RELIEF

 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  Department of Homeland Security

September 4, 2017 (San Diego) – Homeland Security in Thursday announced four companies chosen to build prototypes of a border wall in the Otay Mesa area in San Diego. President Donald Trump has threatened a government shut down if Congress won’t fund subsequent construction of a wall along most of the international U.S.-Mexico border in an upcoming spending bill. 


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LAWSUIT LAUNCHED AGAINST TRUMP BORDER WALL"'PROTOTYPE" CONSTRUCTION AT SAN DIEGO BORDER

 

Federal agencies refuse to provide records on environmental compliance until after wall prototypes are built, environmental group says

East County News Service

June 2, 2017 (San Diego) -- The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a formal notice of intent to sue the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection over impacts to endangered species and critical habitat from building up to 20 border-wall “prototype” designs in San Diego County. 


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PUBLIC RECORDS SOUGHT ON PROTOTYPES FOR TRUMP'S BORDER WALL: ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP SUES, ASKS IF PROTOTYPES SLATED IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY VIOLATE THE LAW

 

Source:  Center for Biological Diversity

May 3, 2017 (San Diego) -- The Center for Biological Diversity, a national nonprofit conservation organization, today filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking public records on whether planned prototypes for President Trump’s border wall in Southern California comply with laws meant to protect wildlife, people and wild places.


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CA LAWMAKERS PUSH STATE TO DIVEST FROM COMPANIES BUILDING TRUMP’S BORDER WALL

 

By Miriam Raftery

March 20, 2017 (Sacramento) – Assemblymembers Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego), Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), and Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella) have announced legislation that would require the state’s pension funds to divest from companies involved in the construction of the president’s wall along the United States-Mexico border.


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BORDER WALL BIDS TO BE ACCEPTED MARCH 4-10

 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  © Tomas Castelazo, www.tomascastelazo.com / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0. Wall at San Diego-Tijuana border; crosses represent migrants who died in the crossing attempt.

February 26, 2017 (San Diego) -- President Donald Trump is pushing forward with plans to fast-track building a wall along the 2,000-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border.

On Friday, The U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced that it will begin accepting bids on March 6th to build the wall and will allow only four days for contractors to submit their concept papers and build prototypes due March 10th.


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HUNTER INTRODUCES BILLS TO FUND BORDER WALL CONSTRUCTION AND CUT FUNDS TO SANCTUARY CITIES, STATES



March 30, 2011 (Washington D.C.) Earlier this month, Congressman Duncan D. Hunter (R-El Cajon) introduced bipartisan legislation, the Unlawful Border Entry Prevention Act, which includes San Diego Congressman Brian Bilbray among its cosponsors. The measure would provide the Secretary of Homeland Security with full discretionary authority to build up to 350 miles of additional infrastructure on the Southwest border.


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BORDER PATROL RESCUES 7 LOST IN SNOWSTORM; TEEN FOUND DEAD

February 28, 2011 (Pine Valley ) –“This is a grim example of human smugglers’ disregard for life. They place profits over life,” Ralph Desio, U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) public affairs specialist said of a tragedy this weekend.

 

Acting on a report from the San Diego Sheriff of eight people lost in a winter snowstorm near Sunrise Highway in the Pine Valley Area, the CBP activated its Border Search Trauma and Rescue Team.


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FEDS FIND BORDER TUNNEL, SEIZE 30 TONS OF MARIJUANA

 

November 3, 2010 (San Diego) – The San Diego Tunnel Task Force uncovered a sophisticated 600-yard underground cross-border tunnel overnight, the U.S. Justice Department Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) reveals. Approximately 30 tons of marijuana seized in the US and Mexico have been linked to the tunnel.


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EDITORIAL: HOW MANY MORE?

 

By Enrique Morones

 

October 1, 2009 (San Diego) – Today marks the 15th anniversary of the wall of death—the border wall of shame. Since October 1st 1994 and the launching of Operation Gatekeeper here in San Diego, thousands have died. Nobody knows the exact number: 5,000, 6,000, 10,000. How many more?


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