Crossing the line: DHS backs out of original promise to hold public tours of fence sites

It's hardly surprising, but it's still upsetting to learn that the Department of Homeland Security has once again gone back on its word to be up front with the American people about the ill-conceived and unwanted border fence.

The DHS pledged in April that it was "still planning community outreach" and would continue to seek public input regarding the project. In a Nov. 4 letter to the Texas Border Coalition, a group of border officials and community leaders, however, a DHS official wrote that the agency "cannot support including parties beyond immediate TBC members in the fence tours, with the possible exception of interested state and federal elected officials."

David Pagan, top adviser to the DHS' Customs and Border Patrol division, signed the letter, which expresses concerns that if it allowed the public on the "public" tours, protesters might show up. Of particular concern were landowners who were in litigation with the agency over losing their land to the fence.

The whole purpose of the tours, which the government, in its penchant for such things, assigned the code name "Operation Walk the Line," was to better inform the public about the fence that will drastically change the lives of many border residents, to the extent of rendering their homeland utterly useless.

TBC officials have rightly expressed their dismay at the sudden change in plans, saying they are "dumbfounded by CBP's continued resistance to consultation with local landowners and the community, and by CBP's unjustifiable demands for secrecy."

This is one more reason the American people made a clear vote for change last week. We've long grown tired of this administration's infatuation with secrecy, and blatant disregard with countless federal laws that demand public accountability.

Keeping things out in the open helps ensure that the government maintains policies and undertakes actions that are honest and can be justified. Officials should be able, and willing, to defend their actions.

Congress recently approved $400 million additional funds for the fence project; the approval carried a request that the DHS improve consultation and assessment in disputed areas, like the South Texas area that would be covered by Walk the Line. Lawmakers would do well to show they are serious about their request, and about holding DHS accountable, by rescinding the allotment until it receives assurances that Homeland Security will stop all the secrecy.

As a new president and Congress prepare to take over the reins of government, America is already becoming more hopeful and confident of a brighter future. However, that doesn't mean we should allow agents of the lame-duck administration free rein to snub their noses at the public and at the laws under which they still must serve.