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Biden administration waives 26 federal laws to allow border wall construction in South Texas (apnews.com)

submitted 1 year ago by honeynut@lemm.ee to c/worldnews@lemmy.ml

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[-] reddig33@lemmy.world 134 points 1 year ago

I wasn’t aware a president could just “waive away” federal law.

[-] WarmSoda@lemm.ee 80 points 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 57 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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

[-] NightAuthor@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Fuckn hell

[-] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 27 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] CabbageRelish@midwest.social 4 points 1 year ago

So he’s following the one that’s actually an issue. Cool.

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[-] Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works 26 points 1 year ago

Patriot Act had a lot of babies

[-] PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 year ago

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 22 points 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 3 points 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.