Environmental red tape stalls border agents trying to fill drug-smuggler tunnels.
May 29, 2018 10:30:04 #
Environmental red tape stalls border agents trying to fill drug-smuggler tunnels.
Environmental red tape is causing “long delays” for border agents as they try to fill tunnels used to smuggle people and dangerous drugs into the U.S. from Mexico, according to border officials and Republican lawmakers who have discussed the problem with agents.
Frustrated agents complain the lengthy federal review process can stall critical tunnel-plugging efforts for months after passageways are first discovered.
The tunnels are being used to move people, illegal drugs and even f**e pharmaceuticals. But regulations stemming from laws like the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act are putting "remediation" on hold.
“I heard firsthand accounts from our Border Patrol agents that environmental red tape is hindering their ability to secure the border,” Utah Rep. Rob Bishop, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, told Fox News this week.
Bishop, along with Arkansas GOP Rep. Bruce Westerman, traveled to the Arizona border in February to meet with border agents and discuss how environmental laws and regulations are impacting security. Bishop, who has legislation aimed at addressing these issues, said they learned of the "significant delay in remediating illicit tunnels," a process where they are filled with gravel and concrete.
A Customs and Border Protection official confirmed to Fox News they've encountered “long delays” in remediating tunnels, acknowledging environmental regulations make up a “good portion of the delay.”
The official said other delays come with “clearing out a tunnel, mapping out the tunnel underground to know where to remediate from above, getting funding for the remediation and fulfilling a contract to a construction company to carry out the remediation.”
One particularly protracted response revolved around a sophisticated border tunnel -- the length of three football fields -- discovered in the town of Naco, Ariz., in February 2015. Photos show the tunnel complete with wooden supports and a cement shaft with a hydraulic lift.
Fox News learned it took between nine months and a year before it was fully remediated. Agents were told it was because of environmental concerns.
While this played out during the Obama administration, officials say agents are still encountering these kinds of delays under the current administration.
“Border security should never take a backseat to the EPA, when you consider the dangerous drugs that come into this country, such as f******l," Brandon Judd, the president of the National Border Patrol Council, said in an interview. "That tunnel was assuredly used to bring f******l into this country, and other dangerous drugs. They don’t use tunnels like that simply to bring in i*****l i*******ts. They use those for their high-dollar products, such as illicit drugs.”
Seems the "deep state" wants the drug flow to continue. Hopeful our new head of the EPA will fix this fast.
Environmental red tape is causing “long delays” for border agents as they try to fill tunnels used to smuggle people and dangerous drugs into the U.S. from Mexico, according to border officials and Republican lawmakers who have discussed the problem with agents.
Frustrated agents complain the lengthy federal review process can stall critical tunnel-plugging efforts for months after passageways are first discovered.
The tunnels are being used to move people, illegal drugs and even f**e pharmaceuticals. But regulations stemming from laws like the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act are putting "remediation" on hold.
“I heard firsthand accounts from our Border Patrol agents that environmental red tape is hindering their ability to secure the border,” Utah Rep. Rob Bishop, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, told Fox News this week.
Bishop, along with Arkansas GOP Rep. Bruce Westerman, traveled to the Arizona border in February to meet with border agents and discuss how environmental laws and regulations are impacting security. Bishop, who has legislation aimed at addressing these issues, said they learned of the "significant delay in remediating illicit tunnels," a process where they are filled with gravel and concrete.
A Customs and Border Protection official confirmed to Fox News they've encountered “long delays” in remediating tunnels, acknowledging environmental regulations make up a “good portion of the delay.”
The official said other delays come with “clearing out a tunnel, mapping out the tunnel underground to know where to remediate from above, getting funding for the remediation and fulfilling a contract to a construction company to carry out the remediation.”
One particularly protracted response revolved around a sophisticated border tunnel -- the length of three football fields -- discovered in the town of Naco, Ariz., in February 2015. Photos show the tunnel complete with wooden supports and a cement shaft with a hydraulic lift.
Fox News learned it took between nine months and a year before it was fully remediated. Agents were told it was because of environmental concerns.
While this played out during the Obama administration, officials say agents are still encountering these kinds of delays under the current administration.
“Border security should never take a backseat to the EPA, when you consider the dangerous drugs that come into this country, such as f******l," Brandon Judd, the president of the National Border Patrol Council, said in an interview. "That tunnel was assuredly used to bring f******l into this country, and other dangerous drugs. They don’t use tunnels like that simply to bring in i*****l i*******ts. They use those for their high-dollar products, such as illicit drugs.”
Seems the "deep state" wants the drug flow to continue. Hopeful our new head of the EPA will fix this fast.
May 30, 2018 12:01:02 #
cold iron wrote:
Environmental red tape stalls border agents trying... (show quote)
Is it really that difficult to get dynamite down there? Just contact the Duck Dynasty boys and tell them the trouble and have them come over and treat those tunnels like beaver dams. It shouldn't take more than five or six sticks at each end of the tunnel should it.
May 30, 2018 19:01:25 #
NOPE,much easier than dynamite,fill the tunnels with ACETYLENE gas,use a fan to shoot it down the tunnel,one blasting cap,job finished.
May 31, 2018 08:47:56 #
bahmer wrote:
Is it really that difficult to get dynamite down there? Just contact the Duck Dynasty boys and tell them the trouble and have them come over and treat those tunnels like beaver dams. It shouldn't take more than five or six sticks at each end of the tunnel should it.
It's not about getting anything, it's all government regs, the deep state people do not want to stop the invasion, not at all!
So, if we keep v****g for the left, one day we can become a state of Mexico.
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