The Real Deal on the REAL ID Act

Melissa Del Bosque of the Texas Observer, whose coverage of the border wall controversy along the Rio Grande has won national acclaim, will discuss the border wall battle on TEXAS POLITICS TODAY this Wednesday, July 2. The radio show airs from 2:30 to 3:00 p.m. CDT on KOOP radio, located at 91.7 on the FM dial. KOOP also streams live at http://www.koop.org/.

In 2005, Congress passed the REAL ID Act, which (among other provisions) directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to meet a 2008 year-end deadline for completing 670 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Act also gave DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff broad authority to waive property rights, environmental, labor and other laws in order to get the job done.

Del Bosque began writing about the border wall fracas last year as the Department of Homeland Security ran roughshod over local communities, longtime landowners, and even the University of Texas System. The Observer’s coverage has won widespread praise and can be viewed here, here and on the Observer’s blog.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in the case of Defenders of Wildlife vs. Chertoff, in effect legitimizing the huge grants of power given to DHS in the REAL ID Act. Del Bosque will discuss the Chertoff decision and its implications for the civil liberties of all Americans. She will also discuss yesterday’s action by a Brownsville federal judge encouraging DHS and the University of Texas-Pan American to work out an alternative to DHS’s plan to bisect the campus with a section of the wall.

TEXAS POLITICS TODAY is collaborating with another KOOP program, “Shades of Green,” in reporting on these issues this week. “Shades of Green,” the environmental talk magazine, airs on Thursday afternoons from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. CDT on KOOP. ”Shades of Green” hosts Ken McKenzie-Grant and John Hoffner will have a representative of the national Defenders of Wildlife organization to discuss the Supreme Court decision as well as Sheila Dean, a nationally-known activist and blogger on REAL ID issues.

TEXAS POLITICS TODAY is the weekly radio show devoted to Texas state and local politics. TEXAS POLITICS TODAY is produced by longtime Capitol insider Deece Eckstein, who shares hosting duties with Austin community leader David Kobierowski.

KOOP, “the little station that could,” is Austin’s only community-owned radio station. It shares the FM 91.7 radio frequency with KVRX, the University of Texas student radio. It also streams live over the Web at http://www.koop.org/. KOOP is on the air on weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and on weekends from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.