Here’s a shocker: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has, once again, reneged on its promise to include the public in its border wall plans in South Texas. The Brownsville Herald reports that a letter from top Customs and Border Patrol adviser David Pagan to a group of border officials and community leaders called the Texas Border Coalition has arrived with the news that the department is concerned 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.” Oh, well when you put it that way…

Never mind the fact that the “public” tours are part of a DHS initiative called, “Operation Walk The Line,” created for the sole purpose of including citizens in the planning process who will be severely impacted by the wall’s construction. And never mind the fact that the DHS just received an additional $400 million dollars from Congress for the border wall project on the condition that they stick to the promises ensured in Operation Walk The Line. Won’t it be novel to have a government who doesn’t flip the bird to the Constitution every time it inconveniences them?

Crossing the line: DHS backs out of original promise to hold public tours of fence sites [The Brownsville Herald]