Don't Fence Me...Out

The Save Our Heritage Organization on Friday filed suit in U.S. District Court "challenging the constitutionality of a federal waiver that cleared the way to build a controversial 3.5-mile border fence between San Diego and Tijuana."  While the fence has been challenged on environmental grounds in the past, now it's being challenged to protect the "natural, cultural, and historic resources" of the area.
As one of the plaintiffs explains, "We're no longer challenging the environmental impact statement, because there isn't one," Briggs said. "Now we're just saying you need to follow the law."

The Department of Homeland Security has exercised waivers to avoid federally mandated environmental reports and other impact assessments in building border fences and other security measures.  In this case, what's being challenged is the last link in the 14-mile fence between San Diego and Tijuana that's been gradually coming online since 1994.  While arrests of illegal immigrants have dropped by more than 75% in the decade since the project began, experts and border patrol say that the immigrants have simply moved to Arizona.  Arizona, of course, is not California's problem.

I'm pretty middle of the road when it comes to immigration policy, but one issue that I brought up with people last summer on this subject is that we never seem to have the real discussion.  This isn't really about just enforcing laws.  This isn't really about protecting American jobs.  This is about the depressingly pervasive idea that other cultures lack inherent value.

This can be seen all over the place if you look for it.  For example, some people want English as the official language.  Partly out of some misplaced patriotism, but also because they don't want to deal with people speaking other languages.  It upsets the comfort zone.  People want their comfortable little bubble where things don't get upset and everything is controllable.  And to some degree that's perfectly reasonable.  But that's no way to really live life.  Back in August, I wrote

I want a country that's curious and excited about the myriad ways that people encounter life.  I don't want a country that's so arrogant about its culture that it gets complacent and watches its place in history end.  I want people to look forward to Spanish classes because it opens doors rather than fear complications to an overly-simplified world.

This border fence is an immigration issue, a security issue, an economic issue, a foreign policy issue.  But it's also about how this country relates to the world.  We need open doors because without them, we lose touch with how the world works.  We become George Bush obliviously and/or stubbornly sitting in the White House waiting for his plan to work after the whole world knows it's failed.  It's not a road I want to go down, and hopefully this lawsuit can help slow things down for at least a couple months.