Biden administration waives 26 federal laws to allow border wall construction in South Texas - eviltoast
  • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    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.”

    • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      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.

        • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          I know, this thread was crazy without any real answers. At least now there’s legislative and executive record out there.

          • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Yeah, now there’s excuses for waiving 26 laws in order to enforce one of Trump’s laws. Hooray.

            • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              Just one excuse, the law that Congress won’t repeal since they’re down with the wall, but yea.

                • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                  1 year ago

                  As far as “excuses” go, respecting the Constitution and the legislative process are pretty good ones.

    • Konala Koala@lemmy.world
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      Well, my main concern regarding the border wall no matter who is trying to build it, is the destruction of protected wildlife refuge and habitat, being that I’m an environmental conservationist. It pains me to hear about wild-lands and woodlands being clear-cut in the name of greed or something that doesn’t make much sense.

      • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I live not too far from the section of wall Biden is gonna build for Trump. I worry about the ocelots.

    • WarmSoda@lemm.ee
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      1 year 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.

    • the post of tom joad@sh.itjust.works
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      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

    • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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      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.

        • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          Yup. It’s too bad that something functioning correctly doesn’t mean it’s functioning well.

          • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            26 laws waived for Biden to build Trump’s wall for him, and we won’t help the poor because [stack of excuses].

            • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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              Wow, you even misunderstood the TLDR.

              Congress is building this wall from a baby hands law in 2019 that broke those federal laws, Biden tried to stop the wall legally, Congress told him no, and to your last point he just canceled 90 billion dollars of debt for a poor people.

              You could be more wrong, but it would be hard to imagine how.

              • SpookyUnderwear
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                Alright man enough with the “baby hands” stuff. It was slightly humerus the first time I read it but after seeing you post it for the third time it just makes you look sad now. We get it. You don’t like him. You look like a conservative who repeats “sleepy Joe” unironically.

                Edit: holy shit you made the same comment 10 times. Nah, I’m good.

                • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                  1 year ago

                  As soon as diaper don stops calling names, he’ll stop receiving the same treatment.

                  Oh, and yeah a lot of people were asking why. I just reposted the answer to everybody who asked why this was happening.

              • OurToothbrush@lemmy.mlM
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                1 year ago

                Mod hat:

                Hey, there are a millions of ways of making fun of Trump without body shaming. Body shaming affects everyone, and Trump will not see your comment.

                • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                  I completely agree that name calling should be off the table, but as long as baby hands continues to body shame and use pejorative nicknames on public forums, I have no problem with equal treatment.

                  I don’t see the benefits of giving special treatment to abhorrent people.

    • PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml
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      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@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        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.

        • PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Agreed with what you are saying. But the important thing I was getting at is that the Executive Branch isn’t paralyzed just because Congress passes a web of laws that make all actions of the executive unlawful. They are fully autonomous and able to prioritize what laws they enforce, and how they enforce them which is absolutely what they are doing here. Though obviously leftists would prefer that Biden enforce different laws with different priorities.

          • Changetheview@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Very true. Even just writing (or rewriting) the regulations is full of ways to get whatever the executive branch wants.

    • Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz
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      1 year ago

      It’s fine. When the migrant workers and others performing the “unsavory” jobs aren’t around to fulfill them any longer, we’ll just fill the positions with influencers who aren’t doing any real work anyway. Although I think it would be funny as hell to see Trump in an orange jumpsuit working the fields.

      • Cruxifux@lemmy.world
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        It’s always weird to me when I see liberals espousing the sentiment that we need foreign workers, or else who will do all the shitty work we don’t want to do?

        It’s just as disturbing and racist to me as the “keep them migrants out of my country!” Take conservatives generally have. Americans are fucked right up man.

        • FarFarAway@startrek.website
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          To be fair a couple of states cracked down hard on illegal immigrants and millions of dollars of crops rotted cause there was no one there to pick em. The states reversed course pretty fast.

          Americans are pretty lazy at this point, and I speak as an American.

          • Cruxifux@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Which tells me that American farms would rather watch crops rot than pay people a proper living wage.

            That’s fucked up.

            • FarFarAway@startrek.website
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              This is also true, but that true across most industry in America at this point.

              If pay is even across the board than why would one person want to toil in the sun vs sit on thier bum and deal with angry customers. Most pick the angry customers…

              Even when the more manual labor jobs do pay well, a ton of people quit after a day or two, granted they’re usually younger people who didn’t realize what the job would entail.

              • Cruxifux@lemmy.world
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                Nobody said pay should be equal across the board. We’re talking about exploitation of migrant workers here man.

                • FarFarAway@startrek.website
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                  I’m not saying that either I’m saying Americans are lazy and have no sense of work ethic and immigrants regardless of what they’re paid (not that I want them to be paid anything but the fair wage anyone else should be entitled to) are a required part of our work force and I’m grateful for the work they do. We wouldn’t have roads or building, or food. Some get paid well, some get paid shit. Im not a farmer so I can’t tell you if they chose to let the whole seasons crop go to waste over paying others more to pick said crops, or if they just didn’t have anyone that wanted to do actual work. From my narrow view, I have the tendency to think that no one wanted to work.

                  Honestly, I think I took your comment to mean something it didn’t. I’m sorry for any misunderstanding.

          • PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Farm work is a lot different today than it was 30 or 40 years ago. Back in the '80s and '90s, it wasn’t uncommon for kids in rural communities to do farmwork like picking berries.

            Fast forward to today and that would never happen. Farmers have very exacting standards and require very high productivity standards that only skilled adult laborers can meet. They’re not going to hire kids or other Americans.

            This reporter did a good job capturing just how fucking difficult farmwork is:

            https://youtu.be/Yg3WFt72RM8?si=_P4GIFppISGNVvZU

            • Tak@lemmy.ml
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              There is no such thing as unskilled labor but this video shows not that Americans won’t do farmwork but that Americans want to be paid more.

              Americans do a lot of hard manual labor but it is labor that is generally paid much better.

        • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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          What’s so weird about telling the truth? That you’re uncomfortable about it?

          It’s not like you can be an illegal immigrant and walk into an office building and go through the corporate HR process to get hired on a white collar job. The desirable jobs will mostly require proof of citizenship or a work visa. Therefore the illegal immigrants will be looking for the under-the-table work which is usually the undesirable jobs.

        • Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz
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          Well that certainly wasn’t my intent in my statement, it was more just an observation that so many Americans are too damn entitled to do the work that others are happy to get paid for.

          • Cruxifux@lemmy.world
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            People would do it if they were paid properly to do it. We shouldn’t have to imperialize and impoverish other countries to the point that they have to make dangerous journeys to come to do shitty jobs (and when I say shitty I mean ridiculously underpaid) or else crops will rot. Getting mad at the people for not wanting to do these jobs is aiming your anger at entirely the wrong people.

            • Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz
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              No, but complaining about things not being done to your satisfaction when you’re not willing to do the job yourself certainly is. It’s bad enough how many people are disgusted by the idea that their food actually comes from dirt, but it’s also pretty sad that these same people consider working on farms as menial labor not worthy of minimum wage when those workers are the ones actually putting in the hard labor.

              • thecrotch@sh.itjust.works
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                Who’s complaining about satisfactory work? The illegals do fine work. They do it for a low wage and without the protection of labor laws because they’re illegal and have to take what they can get. Americans can get jobs where they are protected by labor laws and make more money, so they do. That’s not entitlement it’s common sense.

        • Neuromancer@lemm.ee
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          I’m a conservative. I want immigrants to come legally. We need to provide paths for people to come here.

          Honestly immigrants tend to work harder and still believe in the American dream. I have more in common with the immigrants than I do most liberals. They don’t see America as failing, they seem as the land of opportunity.

          My roommate is an immigrant. Works 14 hour days, 5 days a week. He loves what America has provided for him.

          • MelodiousFunk@kbin.social
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            Honestly immigrants … still believe in the American dream

            That’s because they’re new. Just wait until they’ve had the rug yanked out from under them a few times while someone tut-tuts about bootstraps.

            • Neuromancer@lemm.ee
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              He’s been here for twenty years. He made 500k last year. He’s a big advocate of pulling yourself up from your bootstraps. That’s his story as an immigrant from Mexico who had nothing and now has a good career.

              More Americans could learn from immigrants and pulling themselves up instead of expecting things to come to them.

              • Nudding@lemmy.world
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                You know the phrase pulling yourself up by your boot straps was first invented to make fun of people like you? Lmao

                • Neuromancer@lemm.ee
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                  And people like me don’t care what people like you think. While you are trying to mock people, we are crushing it.

                • Neuromancer@lemm.ee
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                  Someone is awfully judgy. He’s a traveling nurse. He goes from assignment to assignment.

                  I’m only at that house a few weeks out of the year. So I have no issue renting a room to a good cause.

            • generalpotato@lemmy.world
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              Lol, no. Been here 20 yrs, pull in great money as a sr software engineer in the valley and I still think America is the land of opportunities and call it home. I started with 0 dollars in my bank with a simple part time job that would pay me $7.25 an hour at my local community college.

              Sometimes, you actually do need to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and work hard to get to where you need to be. I’ve seen a lot of entitlement around me and people complaining without doing much of anything to fix it.

              Complaining and not doing anything about it isn’t unique to the US. That said, America still offers a ton of opportunities for those looking to succeed, and there’s a reason why the American economy commands ~28% of the world’s GDP. All things considered and if this admin stays in office for another term, I see the opportunities increasing even further.

              • Neuromancer@lemm.ee
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                The entitlement is what is killing our country. People just want the nanny state to take care of them.

                I grew up poor, and was told if I did X Y and Z i would be successful. I did those things. I was successful. I had liberal friends who were surviving paycheck to paycheck. I put them on the same plan and they gasp became successful.

                It is why I love immigrants. They don’t listen to people who say you can’t be successful in America. They just come here and crush it.

                • generalpotato@lemmy.world
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                  My take is that it appears to be driven by mentality rather than whether somebody is an immigrant or not. People, immigrant or not who like putting in the work end up succeeding while those that complain or act entitled do not. It’s plain as day, nobody is going to give you a hand out so you have to work for it. Welcome to capitalism. It sucks, but get with it or you lose.

                  I’ve got successful immigrant and non immigrant friends and those that end up succeeding also end up being like minded. That said, I do think that, yes, immigrants more commonly have the “work hard or fail” mindset given their prior socioeconomic status typically ends up being unfavorable which serves as a catalyst for them.

                  I agree with entitlement becoming more and more common these days but that can also be attributed to people being generally more outspoken and having platforms to voice their concerns.

            • vonbaronhans@midwest.social
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              The only thing that applies to me here is the new SAVE IDR plan. But hey, it still lowers my monthly payment a little bit AND let’s payments actually go to principal instead of just shaving off interest. It’s not nothing.

              I would still like to see full debt relief, but I think that has to be a matter of legislation if I understand correctly. And I’ll take baby steps over nothing at all.

            • hansl@lemmy.world
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              Can’t find any mention of that. As far as we know this is new relief.

                • kebabslob@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                  And its also fucking nothing. A drop in the bucket compared to the $10,000 promised to all. “Much supreme court” we know damn well there’s more he can do

                • BlemboTheThird@lemmy.ca
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                  … it’s literally not. You’re taking a single paragraph out of context. I’m assuming what you’re reading is:

                  The cancellations announced Wednesday come through three different existing debt relief programs that have been plagued with problems in the past. The White House is conducting what it calls “fixes” to a “broken student loan system."

                  They are also new cancellation through existing programs. They are not just administrative errors.

                  I’ll go ahead and paste the rest of the article’s text since apparently so many people are happy to vote without clicking.

                  Washington CNN —

                  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.

                  The announcement comes just days after federal student loan payments restarted after a three-plus year pause.

                  Though the Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden’s hallmark student loan forgiveness program, which promised up to $20,000 in debt relief for low- and middle-income borrowers, the administration has continued to find other ways to provide debt relief.

                  The cancellations announced Wednesday come through three different existing debt relief programs that have been plagued with problems in the past. The White House is conducting what it calls “fixes” to a “broken student loan system.”

                  An additional 53,000 borrowers will receive debt cancellation under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which wipes away remaining student loan debt after qualifying public sector workers make 10 years’ worth of monthly payments.

                  Nearly 51,000 borrowers, who have been in repayment for at least 20 years, are getting relief thanks to a recount of their past payments. The administration has found that these borrowers already qualified for student loan forgiveness but were missing out because of past administrative errors.

                  And nearly 22,000 borrowers who have a total or permanent disability have now been approved for an automatic debt discharge through a data match with the Social Security Administration.

                  Biden, who made a campaign pledge to cancel some student loan debt, spoke about his administration’s recent efforts on Wednesday. His remarks were, in part, an effort by the White House to draw a contrast with the Republican-driven chaos on Capitol Hill, where Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy was ousted as House speaker Tuesday.

                  “This kind of relief is life changing for individuals and their families, but it’s good for our economy as well. By freeing millions of Americans from the crushing burden of student debt, it means they can go and get their lives in order,” Biden said.

                  “They can think about buying a house, they can start a business, they can be starting a family. This matters, it matters to their daily lives,” he added.

                  A White House official said that the new discharges bring the total approved debt cancellation to $127 billion for nearly 3.6 million borrowers so far during Biden’s time in office.

                  “For years, millions of eligible borrowers were unable to access the student debt relief they qualified for, but that’s all changed thanks to President Biden and this administration’s relentless efforts to fix the broken student loan system,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

                  He added that the announcement “builds on everything our administration has already done to protect students from unaffordable debt, make repayment more affordable, and ensure that investments in higher education pay off for students and working families.” In this June 2019 photo, a student works in the library at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.

                  What happens if you don’t pay your student loans?

                  The Biden administration has also made efforts to make monthly student loan payments more affordable. This month, about 28 million borrowers will be required to make payments for the first time since accounts were frozen under the Trump administration to help people struggling financially due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

                  This summer, the administration launched a new repayment program that promises to lower bills for millions of borrowers. And a recently released Department of Education rule, which is set to take effect next year, aims to keep tuition at for-profit colleges and career programs in check.

                  The Biden administration is also pursuing another pathway to providing some student debt relief, but it’s not clear who would be eligible or how much debt would be canceled. Last week, the Department of Education said a potential new program could focus on certain groups of borrowers, like those who have seen their balances grow larger than what was originally borrowed despite making payments.

                  This pathway requires the Department of Education to undertake a formal rule-making process, which typically takes months or even years – and could still face legal challenges

      • askdocsthrowaway96@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I can’t believe people here being so single minded. These are complex issues, each requiring their own solutions. Both things can be true. Biden is fighting student loans and illegal unchecked immigration is an issue, that he is trying to solve.

        • gastationsushi@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Applying for asylum shouldn’t be illegal. Unless you are Trump or Biden and you want play politics with immigration.

          • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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            It is only illegal because of laws, change the laws and it suddenly is not illegal anymore.

        • HerrLewakaas@feddit.de
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          1 year ago

          And if we want a Dem to win in 2024 then doing something about the number one concern in southern states is a good move

    • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      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.

  • Holyginz@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    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.

  • ALostInquirer@lemm.ee
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    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@lemmy.world
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      1 year 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.

    • SheeEttin@lemmy.world
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      Considering that most illegal immigration happens by people overstaying a visa, not crossing the border, this is mostly performative.

      Or at least that was true a few years ago. I don’t know if it’s changed at all.

    • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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      Looks like a legacy baby hands decision, not a biden decision: 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.

  • Number1SummerJam@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    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.

  • magnetosphere @beehaw.org
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    According to government data, about 245,000 illegal entries have been recorded in this region during the current fiscal year.

    This is an extremely complex issue, but let’s just consider that number for a minute.

    That’s about 671 people every day. About 28 each hour. Damn.

    • Jamie@jamie.moe
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      And adding 0.081% to the population every year are stealing all the good jobs uh… checks notes, working in construction and on ranches where actual citizens usually don’t want to work anyway.

      • psivchaz@reddthat.com
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        Jobs is just a thing people talked about but was never the actual issue. The issue has always been fear of change. Depending on the list you look at right now, Peso Pluma is between the #1 and #12 artist right now in music. There are areas of the country where knowing Spanish has become a near necessity to own a business.

        Depending on how racist they are, it might be some #WhiteGenocide nonsense, or it might be that they have some honestly kind of legitimate concerns about changing culture, or they just don’t like seeing all the brown people around. It seems to vary a lot from person to person.

        I’m not saying they’re right and I’m certainly not endorsing that way of thinking. I just think it’s important to understand the real reasons they’re all freaking out. It was never really jobs and always plain xenophobia.

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        That’s not an excuse to allow the wanton exploitation of migrant labor that does, whether you want to admit it or not, undercut US labor on the margins. Not to mention the tolerance of labor violations against undocumented workers undoubtedly trickles up to legal labor and harms a lot more workers than just the migrants.

        Illegal border crossings are a serious problem and the proper solution is not to hand wave away conservative concerns about it. All that does is maintain the status quo wherein migrant laborers are kept in legal limbo, facilitating their continued exploitation. That’s bourgeois shit and if I wanted to get a little conspiratorial about it, I’d suggest that maybe that’s the whole point of the “Americans don’t want to do those jobs” rhetoric.

        The proper solution is to legalize the migrants, get them documented, and protect them with US minimum wage and labor laws.

    • Swim@lemmy.ca
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      you are missing a key word, recorded. got to assume some arent counted which makes that number even higher, holy feck.

      • Chetzemoka@startrek.website
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        It’s a huge problem in the towns and cities immediately on the other side of the border and that’s the primary concern here. Imagine where you live and 671 unhoused and unfed human beings walked into your town every. single. day. No local municipality in the world has the resources to deal with that. It has to be the federal government.

        That’s not to suggest that building walls in the wilderness is an effective intervention. But it is an unfortunately popular one. It must be coupled with federal programs to receive, house, and find work for the people arriving at areas not blocked by a wall.

        But the people living in those border towns don’t deserve to be burdened with a problem created by federal government policies. The feds need to fix the problem.

  • Psythik@lemm.ee
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    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.

    • SpookyUnderwear
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      “Make your laws more convenient for me or I’m going to break them”.

      A lot of people enter the country and become legal citizens every day.

  • knfrmity@lemmygrad.ml
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    The “harm reduction we just have to get him elected and then we’ll push him left” blue maga president everyone.

  • Silverseren@kbin.social
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    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.

    • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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      This is continuing baby hands legislation, not new biden legislation 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.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Starr County Judge Eloy Vera said it will start south of the Falcon Dam and go past Salineño, Texas.

    There’s a lot of arroyos,” Eloy Vera, the county judge said, pointing out the creeks cutting through the ranchland and leading into the river.

    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.

    And it’s a horrific step backwards for the borderlands,” Laiken Jordahl, a southwest conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity, said Wednesday afternoon.

    The DHS decision on Wednesday contrasts the Biden administration’s posturing when a proclamation to end the construction on Jan. 20, 2021 stated, “building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution.”

    “After years of denying that a border wall and other physical barriers are effective, the DHS announcement represents a sea change in the administration’s thinking: A secure wall is an effective tool for maintaining control of our borders,” Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said in a statement.


    The original article contains 684 words, the summary contains 184 words. Saved 73%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • zephyreks@lemmy.mlM
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    Biden’s executive order to halt construction on the wall didn’t work too well, did it?

    For reference, the Trump administration built 458 miles of wall.