XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.trump, misc.immigration.usa   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: waaa@waaa.tx   
      
   In late September, the Biden administration’s Department of Homeland   
   Security (DHS) awarded a $229 million contract for border wall   
   construction in Starr County to SLSCO Ltd., a contractor that also built   
   wall for the Trump administration and is presently doing so for Texas   
   Governor Greg Abbott. Starr County, a largely rural and flood-prone area   
   in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley with a few towns abutting the river, currently   
   hosts just a few short stretches of border fencing. SLSCO is a Galveston-   
   based firm run by a family of GOP political donors.   
      
   Biden’s decision to build roughly 20 miles of border wall in Starr County   
   made international news early last month when DHS waived a suite of   
   environmental and historic preservation laws in order to speed   
   construction. The move suggested a stark departure from Biden’s promise,   
   made during his 2020 campaign, that there would “not be another foot of   
   wall” built on his watch. In reality, Biden continued building a shorter   
   version of Trump’s wall in parts of South Texas and has been increasing   
   the height of fencing in Friendship Park in Southern California. But last   
   month marked the first time Biden used DHS’ sweeping waiver authority—a   
   relic of a Bush-era act of Congress—and the Starr County project is the   
   president’s most significant border wall undertaking to date.   
      
   The flurry of press coverage of the October 5 DHS waiver overlooked the   
   fact that the administration had already issued a construction contract   
   for the project about a week prior. Some trade publications stated no   
   contractor had been identified. Under the Trump administration, Customs   
   and Border Protection (CBP) typically issued press releases when wall   
   contracts were awarded, but no press release appears to have been issued   
   in this case. (A press release was issued in late June announcing the 20-   
   mile project.) The Texas Observer located the contract on the website   
   usaspending.gov, and a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesperson   
   confirmed the contract and its purpose.   
      
   “THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S DECISION TO PLOW WILDLIFE-KILLING BORDER WALLS   
   THROUGH SOME OF THE BEST REMAINING HABITAT IN THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY IS A   
   NATIONAL DISGRACE.”   
      
   “Clearly DHS under the Biden administration has no more respect for border   
   residents than it did under the Trump administration,” said Scott Nicol, a   
   longtime anti-wall activist and researcher and board member of the Valley-   
   based Friends of the Wildlife Corridor, upon learning of the contract.   
   “Biden should use the remaining funds to mitigate some of the damage   
   border walls have already done, not waste hundreds of millions of dollars   
   to inflict more destruction.”   
      
   On October 17, a CBP official did describe the contract in a declaration   
   filed in an ongoing lawsuit in which the State of Texas and other parties   
   are attempting to force Biden to broadly resume constructing Trump’s   
   border wall. This declaration was reported behind a hard paywall in   
   Law360. The declaration states the contract is for 17 miles of new border   
   barrier in Starr. According to usaspending.gov, the deal is for $229   
   million, yielding a per-mile cost of about $13.5 million. The website also   
   states the contract begins on September 28 and ends March 30, 2026. The   
   CBP spokesperson did not respond to a request for further details.   
      
   SLSCO, the Galveston company, is contracted to build a stretch of border   
   wall in Maverick County for Abbott as part of the governor’s problem-   
   plagued Operation Lone Star. It also won contracts under Trump for border   
   wall in Texas and other states. The brothers who run the company have   
   donated generously to Abbott, U.S. Senator John Cornyn, and other GOP   
   candidates. The company was involved in a 2020 federal lawsuit, ultimately   
   dismissed, about the illegal use of Mexican security guards in California   
   and has been accused of bilking the City of New York in a deal related to   
   COVID vaccinations. The company did not respond to an Observer request for   
   comment.   
      
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   After news of the October waiver broke, Biden told reporters that he had   
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)