Biden administration waives 26 federal laws to allow border wall construction in South Texas : worldnews

[–] Ensign_Crab 192 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Want to ignore 26 laws to destroy protected wildlife refuge in order to build Trump's wall for him? Sure! No problem!

Want to do anything that might benefit the poor? "No you stupid progressive. This must be your first election because you don't understand how anything works. Everyone knows that we need a quorum of both houses to convene in a graveyard at midnight under a blood moon on the third Tuesday of the month, in accordance with the infield fly rule. Then, we wait for the appearance of the Great Pumpkin, so that we may know how to proceed."

[–] [email protected] 36 points 9 months ago (11 children)

Here's what looks like an answer: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/jun/30/joe-biden-forced-build-donald-trumps-border-wall/

TLDR: This is a 2019 law passed by Congress during the baby hands administration. The Biden administration has been pretty careful not to overstep other branches of government(I think as a direct response to how flagrantly and harmfully baby hands used executive action), and while Biden returned wall money taken from the DoD, the rest of the wall money was explicitly designated by Congress for building the border wall in 2019 and Congress will not cancel that legislative order(wall funds), despite Biden asking Congress to cancel the 2019 wall funds law since arriving in office in 2020.

This post is misleading, the money is being legally used for a legislatively required purpose and any federal laws are being broken legislatively by Congress as a result of baby hands in 2019, not the Biden administration.

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[–] Retrograde 12 points 9 months ago

Spoken like a true John Oliver, bravo and agreed

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[–] reddig33 143 points 9 months ago (52 children)

I wasn’t aware a president could just “waive away” federal law.

[–] [email protected] 80 points 9 months ago

marking the administration’s first use of a sweeping executive power employed often during the Trump presidency.

It's shitty all the way around.

[–] [email protected] 57 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

The controversial work, which included construction on federally designated wilderness, was permitted under the Real ID Act. Created in the wake of the September 11 attacks, the act grants DHS the authority to waive any law, including bedrock statutes meant to safeguard the environment and areas of cultural significance, to build border barriers in the name of national security

source

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 9 months ago (19 children)

The article is misleading, Biden is actually explicitly not ignoring this law that is from 2019: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/jun/30/joe-biden-forced-build-donald-trumps-border-wall/

TLDR: This is a 2019 law passed by Congress during the baby hands administration. The Biden administration has been pretty careful not to overstep other branches of government(I think as a direct response to how flagrantly and harmfully baby hands used executive action), and while Biden returned wall money taken from the DoD, the rest of the wall money was explicitly designated by Congress for building the border wall in 2019 and Congress will not cancel that legislative order(wall funds), despite Biden asking Congress to cancel the 2019 wall funds law since arriving in office in 2020.

This post is misleading, the money is being legally used for a legislatively required purpose and any federal laws are being broken legislatively by Congress as a result of baby hands in 2019, not the Biden administration.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 9 months ago

Patriot Act had a lot of babies

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Why do you think The President is beholden to congress? The separation of powers explicitly says that isn't the case and if there is something the president is doing that the other 2 branches of government say he shouldn't do, there is a specific process for such a thing. Otherwise he has enormous leeway to do what he feels should be done even if some dumb asses in congress or on the internet don't want it to be the case.

[–] Changetheview 23 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I get what you’re saying, but there’s a lot more to separation of powers than this. You might be well aware of all this, but for those that aren’t, here’s a giant wall of text.

The executive branch’s powers are clearly defined and including acting as the head of the military, the head of foreign affairs, and the executor of the laws congress passes. It is quite restricted by congress in many ways. Of course, the executive branch has emergency powers and limited ways around the laws congress enacts, but that’s not the default and it is very much intended to be restricted by congress.

The executive branch also has room to make interpretations (create regulations) and to prioritize certain laws when they come into conflict.

This is what they’re doing here. They have weighed the laws (from congress) they are tasked with enforcing, which includes (a) specific immigration restrictions and (b) a variety of other ones that could impact their ability to execute the immigration restrictions (the “26” laws waived, including water and environmental protections). The DHS (an executive branch agency) has determined that (b) these 26 place an undue burden that prevents them from executing (a) the immigration restrictions, and is therefore temporarily waiving (b).

You can read the actual order here: https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2023-22176.pdf

Notice that it does not say it’s randomly waiving laws of its own accord without a law that it is executing. It is clearly referencing the statues (enacted by congress) that it is acting on. It is identifying that it is failing to execute some laws, but only so it can prioritize another one it has deemed more important for this specific action. It’s also become popular for the executive branch to use emergency decrees to act unilaterally, but these are supposed to be much more limited and a functioning judiciary/congress should hold the executive accountable when this happens.

What the executive branch is NOT doing here is very important too. It is NOT deciding it doesn’t want to do what congress says. Congress could rewrite the immigration law or any of the other 26 laws to change the way the executive branch executes them, if it feels the executive is implementing them wrong. And the judicial branch could easily weigh in on this if someone affected brings the case to them.

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Student loans: I sleep

Title 42 + building new border walls: Real shit?

[–] hansl 36 points 9 months ago (9 children)

Did you miss todays announcement about student loans relief?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yes! What was it? Oh my god I hope they're actually gonna do something that affects me for once

[–] hansl 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The Biden administration has approved debt relief for an additional 125,000 student loan borrowers, totaling $9 billion in forgiveness, the White House said Wednesday.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/04/politics/biden-student-loan-debt-forgiveness/index.html

[–] [email protected] 49 points 9 months ago (17 children)

That is literally just them correcting admistrative errors not new relief

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[–] Holyginz 45 points 9 months ago (4 children)

My first guess is that it was something they had to agree to as part of a deal. Like to keep the government open or something like that. Could very well be wrong though.

[–] 0110010001100010 36 points 9 months ago (2 children)

This was my guess as well but neither the linked source nor any other one I can find explain exactly why he did it.

[–] Holyginz 22 points 9 months ago (5 children)

It just feels so out of left field for the administration. I'm not saying the Biden administration is perfect cause its not, but border walls are not something he has ever given any indication of having as a priority.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/jun/30/joe-biden-forced-build-donald-trumps-border-wall/

Found this. Basically the claim here is that funds were allocated to this project, and although some of those funds were redirected, congress never deallocated the rest, and therefore they have to continue to be used. I'm not totally convinced but it's a more nuanced take than the comments here.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 9 months ago (1 children)

What? From union buster segregationist eulogizing Joe?

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[–] Number1SummerJam 28 points 9 months ago (6 children)

Why??? We're experiencing a shortage of workers for the jobs nobody wants to do and there is an entire wave of people ready to get their foot in the door in our country. They're not criminals either, all the people I know who are immigrants from Spanish speaking countries are kind, practical, outgoing, intelligent and hard workers- they definitely know how to party too. I wish more people would learn Spanish so we could fix this disconnect between the US and its neighbors.

[–] paultimate14 75 points 9 months ago (4 children)

We're experiencing a shortage of workers for the jobs nobody wants to do

We're experiencing a shortage of workers for the jobs no one wants to do AT THE WAGES THE EMPLOERS WANT TO PAY TO PEOPLE WHO ARE VULNERABLE TO EXPLOITATION.

There's not a shortage of workers, but of wages.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 9 months ago (14 children)

Here's what looks like an answer: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/jun/30/joe-biden-forced-build-donald-trumps-border-wall/

TLDR: This is a 2019 law passed by Congress during the baby hands administration. The Biden administration has been pretty careful not to overstep other branches of government(I think as a direct response to how flagrantly and harmfully baby hands used executive action), and while Biden returned wall money taken from the DoD, the rest of the wall money was explicitly designated by Congress for building the border wall in 2019 and Congress will not cancel that legislative order(wall funds), despite Biden asking Congress to cancel the 2019 wall funds law since arriving in office in 2020.

This post is misleading, the money is being legally used for a legislatively required purpose and any federal laws are being broken legislatively by Congress as a result of baby hands in 2019, not the Biden administration.

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[–] negativeyoda 24 points 9 months ago

"Nothing will fundamentally change"

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago (1 children)

How about we have some proper immigration reform instead? Then we won't have to waste money on stupid walls cause people will be less compelled to cross illegally.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Won't a wall, supposing it's somewhat effective at mitigating unlawful entry over the surface, simply encourage even more risky behavior such as (more?) tunneling and/or attempts at entering via the Gulf?

Also, for cat lovers out there, you might want to note this detail that just adds to the suffering this will perpetuate:

Concern is shared with environmental advocates who say structures will run through public lands, habitats of endangered plants and species like the Ocelot, a spotted wild cat.

Finally, wouldn't the more modern, humane, and fiscally responsible solution to this whole issue be migration reform such that people can more easily, legally enter the country? More people become citizens, more tax revenue, governments' budgets may still be tight but more manageable (supposing they continue to insist on avoiding taxing businesses more).

Don't get me wrong, though, I realize a big part of why it's not being addressed that way is related to fearmongering, with another big part being exploited migrant labor.

[–] rockSlayer 26 points 9 months ago

Fun fact, we closed the southern border because of racism in the 1800s. Before then, people could travel freely, and it wasn't a problem in the slightest.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago (2 children)

20 miles isn't enough to cover any form of meaningful distance. I wonder what's going on in that county for this to be pushed for, especially since the DHS didn't release any actual details about it.

I suppose a fence would technically count as a wall.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago

The "harm reduction we just have to get him elected and then we'll push him left" blue maga president everyone.

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