America's Border Wall

The federal government is building a wall on our southern border with Mexico. The law that allows the wall to be built was finalized in 2006 and it stated that the wall must be finished by the end of 2008. Land in Texas has already been seized from farmers, homeowners, Native Americans, and it even intersects the University of Texas in Brownsville. I have been following this story for a few months and there is a new twist to it that was reveiled today. The federal government has decided that it doesn't even have to abide by Environmental Law in order to build this monstrosity.

http://www.usatoday.com/washington/2008-4-1/borderfence
"WASHINGTON — The Bush administration will use its authority to bypass more than 30 laws and regulations in an effort to finish building 670 miles of fence along the southwest U.S. border by the end of this year, federal officials said Tuesday.
Invoking the two legal waivers — which Congress authorized — will cut through bureaucratic red tape and sidestep environmental laws that currently stand in the way of the Homeland Security Department building 267 miles of fencing in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, according to officials familiar with the plan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly about it. " (more)

I thought it was a good idea to tear down walls like this. Isn't that what was done in Berlin? Was this wall not the epitome of everything we thought was so horrible about the Communists? There needs to be a solution to illegal immigration of course but not by walling ourselves in, taking land away from people, and destroying the environment. They have gotten this idea I am afraid from the Israelis. They have walled in much of the population of Palestine so that they cannot go anywhere without going through a checkpoint. We need to remember that we are the Land of the Free in practice not just in theory.