HR 1505: Giant Land Grab For The Police State

Montana Republican Congressman Denny Rehberg lent his support for ceding more power and authority to the federal government’s emerging police state by supporting HR 1505, the “National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act.” This monstrous bill empowers the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to confiscate to itself tens of thousands of acres of land across the US northern border. This is for “national security” reasons, of course. Gag!

My friend, Dr. Ed Berry, has written a very astute summary and analysis of HR 1505 on his web site, PolyMontana.com. I am going to be borrowing heavily from his research in this column.

Dr. Berry rightly notes that the DHS is the giant head of no less than seven federal agencies: Transportation Security Administration (TSA), US Customs & Border Protection (CBP), US Citizenship & Immigration Services (CIS), US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), US Secret Service (SS), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and US Coast Guard (USCG).

Dr. Berry says pointedly, “FEMA is the one with the small cages to put you in if you do not behave. TSA is the one that gives you a useless body scan before you get on an airplane, bus, etc. DHS is the one adding its sensors to streetlights around America and the promoter of E-Verify and Real ID as a cradle-to-grave biometric tracking system for every American.” And it is CBP that the DHS is using to seize property along the US northern border.

According to Denny Rehberg, the reasons the DHS needs to seize all this property are: 1) to stop the “turf war” between federal agencies, 2) Drug growers are hiding in our forests, 3) to catch criminals hiding in our forests, 4) to stop illegal aliens from coming in America.

Let’s first acknowledge that the federal government has absolutely no natural right or constitutional jurisdiction to claim (much less seize) land and territory outside of the District of Columbia. In many of the western states of the US, for example, the vast majority of land in any given State is now regarded as “federal” land. Ask yourself, where is the constitutional authorization for this federal land grab? When did the various State legislatures vote to give these properties to the federal government? When did the various State governors sign the State laws giving these properties to the federal government? When did the citizens of the various states vote to give these properties to the federal government? The answer is, nowhere, and they didn’t!

How is it, then, that we have elected representatives such as Denny Rehberg--people who took an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States--who are either so ignorant of the Constitution that they took an oath to uphold, or who are so flippant and careless about that oath, that they so quickly and routinely trample, not only the federal Constitution, but the natural laws and principles of God, and the sovereign rights and authority of the several states?

Now, let’s look at Rep. Rehberg’s reasons why he supports HR 1505 one at a time:

*To stop the “turf war” between federal agencies

This is a very specious argument, to say the least. No federal agency has any claim to State land! It belongs to the people of the several states. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the State governor and county sheriff to determine who is and who is not allowed access to these lands. All this talk of a “turf war” between federal agencies is just a bunch of hooey!

On this point, we must note that Rep. Rehberg has introduced a “Sheriffs First” amendment to HR 1505. If approved, this amendment would recognize county sheriffs’ law enforcement power over federal agencies and personnel. Of course, this is power sheriffs already have!

For the record, I don’t believe for one second that Denny Rehberg cares one whit whether county sheriffs exercise their authority over these Nazi-like federal agencies. He came up with this amendment as a way to mollify the people of Montana after he discovered that a sizeable number of his constituents are rightfully angry about his support for this draconian piece of legislation. After all, he is campaigning for a US Senate seat.

*Drug growers are hiding in our forests

In this regard, Dr. Berry’s analysis is absolutely spot-on: “America’s War on Drugs is a scam. It keeps the price of drugs high by limiting supply, so drug cartels and our CIA can make money selling drugs. It hires police to catch pot growers and smokers who overflow our prisons. But wealthy drug dealers who pay off the police have a free run. The solution is not to give DHS control over our land. The solution is to stop the War on Drugs.”

Dr. Berry is also correct when he states, “Virtually all drugs used in America come across our southern border and DHS has not been able to stop it. So why should we allow DHS to control non-existent drug traffic [over] our northern border when they can’t stop the problem where it exists?”

*To catch criminals who are hiding in our forests

Again, law enforcement is the responsibility of State and local government. If there are criminals “hiding in our forests,” it is the job of the State law enforcement agencies to find and apprehend them. Moreover, Dr. Berry astutely observes that to use this argument as justification to cede more authority and territory to DHS “shows the real intent of HR 1505 is to control American citizens.” Amen!

*To stop illegal aliens from coming into America

I cannot believe Denny Rehberg could say this with a straight face! Yeah, we have a real problem with all those illegal Canucks coming across our northern border, don’t we? That’s so absurd; I doubt that anyone reading that statement could do so without laughing out loud!

For the record, I live about 75 miles south of the Canadian border, and, ladies and gentlemen, I can tell you unequivocally that there is absolutely no problem with illegal aliens coming across that northern border! In fact, the western states that border Canada enjoy some of the lowest crime rates anywhere in the country.

I’ll tell you where we have a problem with illegal aliens (not that I have to): it’s along our southern border! So, what are the DHS and the rest of the federal government doing to protect our southern border? Not much! The DHS often imprisons Border Patrol agents who attempt to do their jobs. The federal Justice Department sued the State of Arizona for its attempt to stop illegal immigration and constantly hassles and harangues Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, because of his no-nonsense enforcement of Arizona immigration laws. Furthermore, the Obama administration secretly used federal police agencies to actually supply sophisticated firearms to Mexican drug cartels--firearms that were used to murder a US Border Patrol agent, no less. Does this sound like a federal government that is truly concerned about illegal immigration to you? And now we are supposed to believe that HR 1505 is designed to stop illegal immigration where, for all intents and purposes, it doesn’t even exist? Get real!

Dr. Berry inserts one more salient point into his column: “Do you see a pattern here? All the claimed reasons for HR 1505 are the result of federal laws or lack [of] enforcement of our Constitution. Now the feds want another law to supposedly cure the problems they created.”

I implore readers to contact their US congressman or congresswoman and find out where he or she stands on HR 1505. This is a monstrous bill that lurches the United States forward into a federal police state in giant strides. The implications and ramifications of this bill, should it become law, are staggering--and scary!