In a sweeping use of its authority, the Department of Homeland Security announced this month that it plans to bypass environmental reviews to speed construction of fencing along the Mexican border, The New York Times reports.  DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff issued two waivers covering 470 miles of the border from California to Texas as well as a separate 22-mile stretch in Hidalgo County , Tex. , where the department plans to build fencing up to 18 feet high into a flood-control levee in a wildlife refuge.  

The announcement angered environmental groups, which have raised concerns through lawsuits and public hearing about the damage that fencing could cause to wildlife.  Property owners, particularly along the Rio Grande , have also objected to what they considered federal intrusion on their land and access to the river. Defenders of Wildlife, an environmental group that had already asked the Supreme Court to review the waiver of environmental law in an Arizona fence project, said it would amend its petition to the court to reflect Mr. Chertoff’s new decision.  "Clearly, this is out of control," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife.  

Chertoff’s waiver power has also drawn concern from some members of Congress.  Jodi Seth, spokeswoman for the House Commerce and Energy Committee, responded, "when we asked the department to justify the need to waive these environmental laws, we were stonewalled." The Interior Department, which controls several tracts where the fencing is planned, raised their objections as well.  "We will continue to work with them closely to protect environmental values and mitigate impacts," the department said.  

Under the Secure Fence Act of 2006, the department was authorized to build up to 700 miles of fencing along the 2,000-mile Southwest border, where most undocumented immigrants cross.   

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A former Immigration and Customs Enforcement inspector was convicted last week of letting drugs into the US in exchange for sex with a British Columbian prostitute, and was sentenced to nearly three years in prison, The Seattle Times reports.  Desmond Bastian, a US citizen who lived in Surry, BC and worked for the city’s ICE department, allowed the woman to drive through the Blaine crossing while carrying large loads of marijuana and other drugs.  Agents confirmed that between 2004 and 2005, Sandra Maas transported hundreds of pounds of marijuana, and testified that she had an understanding with Bastian to let her through in exchange for sex.  

US District Judge James Robart called Bastian’s action "an incredibly serious offense…a trusted servant of the US government allowed an individual to make multiple trips into the US without any supervision.  From agents initial confrontation with him to the trial, Bastian has insisted that he was innocent and misunderstood, testifying that he "never ailed to do my duty," adding, "I did my job with a lot of integrity, and a lot of pride."   

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Groups of Texas cattle ranchers along the US-Mexico border have pleaded with the Department of Homeland Security officials to abandon the stifled construction of border fencing along the Rio Grande Valley , and instead move it westward.  The request not only deters undocumented immigrants and drug smugglers, but also the dreaded, fever tick.  

The San Antonio Express News reports that border ranchers have been working feverishly to contain the tick after recent outbreaks forced the government to expand quarantine zones for the first time in nearly 60 years.  But the ticks keep coming, typically catching rides on livestock wandering over from Mexico and multiplying on the domestic game that ranchers have stocked to supplement their income with hunting leases.   

The US Department of Agriculture estimates that tick eradication efforts cost the US livestock industry an estimated $1 billion annually.  Officials from the Department of Homeland Security responded that they would not act on the requests from the ranchers, and will continue to construct fencing in the areas designated by the Secure Fence Act.