A coalition of Texas mayors, county judges and economic development commissioners is joining a federal lawsuit challenging Department of Homeland Security efforts to build 153 miles of fencing along the Texas-Mexico border, The Washington Times reports.  The Texas Border Coalition (TBC), whose membership collectively represents more than 6 million people who live along the state’s southern border, cited the lack of consultation required under the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2007 as the principle reason for the legal challenge.   

"Sadly the US Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly ignored TBC’s pleas for cooperation and coordination among federal, state and local governments in order to foster smart, effective border security measures," said Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster, the coalition’s chairman, adding that they entered into the lawsuit by Cameron County landowners "to protect the interests of communities across Texas and to minimize the impact the border wall will have on our environment, culture, commerce, and quality of life."  The TBC believes that DHS is focused solely on the construction of border fencing without acknowledging concerns about the effect it would have on both the environment and the "binational way of life" on the border.  

Homeland Security spokeswoman Laura Keehner has steadfastly maintained that there be "no ambiguity about the department’s top priority…securing the homeland," adding that the department has "championed" a combination of traditional fencing an manpower to reach the goal.  

The Secure Fence Act of 2006 initially called for the construction of 745 miles of double-layered fencing along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border.  DHS scaled back this estimate down to their current plan of 370 miles of fencing and vehicle barriers.  

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More than 280 workers accused of being illegal immigrants were arrested this month by federal agents at five plants belonging to Pilgrim’s Pride, a major chicken-processing company, The New York Times reports.  The roundup was the largest immigration enforcement effort at a workplace this year.  The arrests are part of a ever-intensifying strategy by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to bring federal charges against any unauthorized immigrant workers caught purchasing or using Social Security numbers to obtain work.  Justice Department officials said they would bring criminal identity theft charges against many of those arrested.  

ICE officials said that over 100 workers were arrested at each of the company’s two plants in Chattanooga , Tenn. , and Moorefield W. Va.  ICE officials do not plan to bring any charges against Pilgrim’s Pride, or its management.  "It wasn’t a raid, in the sense that we were working with the government to help them apprehend the people," said Ray Atkinson, a spokesman for Pilgrim’s Pride.   

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The Washington Post reports that his past week, the US government has ordered all domestic commercial airlines and cruise lines to prepare to collect digital fingerprints of all foreigners before they depart the country under a new security initiative.  The proposal, called US-VISIT, is estimated by the government to cost the airline industry $2.3 billion over 10 years, adding another financial burden to the troubled industry, which is currently struggling with high fuel costs.   

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff linked the effort to enforcing the nation’s recent changes in immigration laws, accusing airline carriers of delaying cooperation on the issue for commercial reasons.  "if we don’t have US-VISIT air exit by this time next year, it will only be because the airline industry killed it," Chertoff said recently.  "We have to decide who is going to win this fight.  Is it going to be the airline industry, or is it going to be the people who believe we should know who leaves the country by air?"  

The initiative has been seen as many in the airline industry as an unreasonably costly and burdensome measure.  Doug Lavin, regional vice president for the international Air Transport Association, which represents major US and international carriers, asserted that it is the government’s responsibility, not the airlines’, to collect fingerprints.  "This is ludicrous," Lavin said.  "We can’t afford anything in the billions to support a program that should be a government program."  Fingerprinting an estimated 33 million departing foreign passengers a year would result in "delayed departures, missed connections here and around the world."  

In response to DHS’ slow response to implementing US-VISIT, Congress last year set a June 2009 deadline for DHS to collect fingerprints from departing air passengers in a law to implement recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.  Otherwise, the government cannot expand the Visa Waiver Program to include more nations, a move which it believes could negatively affect tourism to the US .