Politics

House Resources Committee hearing on border fence

Monday, April 28, 2008

The House Resources Committee is holding a field hearing in Brownsville, Texas, today on the U.S.-Mexico border fence.

The Department of Homeland Security recently waived a slew of environmental and historic preservation laws in order to build the fence. The Native American Graves Protection Act is one of them.

Ned Norris Jr., the chairman of the Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona, is set to testify before the joint hearing of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands and the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans. The tribe's reservation runs along the border.

The hearing won't be broadcast online. The full witness list follows:

Panel I
Rick Schultz, National Borderland Coordinator, Department of the Interior
Ronald D. Vitiello, Chief Patrol Agent, Rio Grande Valley Sector, Office of Border Patrol, United States Customs and Border Patrol, United States Department of Homeland Security
The Honorable Chad Foster, Mayor, City of Eagle Pass, Texas
Ned Norris Jr., Chairman, Tohono O'odham Nation
Juliet V. Garcia, Ph.D, President, University of Texas at Brownsville and Southmost College

Panel 2
The Most Rev. Raymundo J. Pena, Bishop of Brownsville
Betty Perez, Local private land owner
Rosemary Jenks, Director, Government Relations, NumbersUSA
Joan Neuhaus Schaan, Executive Director, Houston-Harris County Regional Homeland Security Advisory Council

Panel 3
John McClung, President and CEO, Texas Produce Association
Ken Merritt, Private Citizen
Laura Peterson, Senior Policy Advisor, Taxpayers for Common Sense
Zack Taylor, Supervisory Border Patrol Agent (Retired)