The San Diego Fact Check Blog

My favorite story so far from the new San Diego Fact Check Blog is "The Hills Have No Eyes."



Photo by Sam Hodgson: The federal government says that there are plants here.

The Hills Have No Eyes.
January 20, 2010
by Rob Davis

Statement: The barren, vegetation-free hillsides in Border Field State Park created by construction of a new 3.5-mile section of the U.S.-Mexico border fence are neither barren nor vegetation-free, a top federal border security official said in November.

...Jayson Ahern, the acting chief of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, sent a letter to Congresswoman Susan Davis, who'd raised questions about the fence's environmental impact. Plants were growing, he told Davis. You just can't see them.

"[T]he existing re-vegetated areas are currently dormant and brown ... and, thus, difficult to see from afar," Ahern said.

Determination: Huckster propaganda

Analysis: I saw the hills before and after he made his claim. Both times: No plants. Since he made that false claim, his agency has said it will install a temporary irrigation system to make sure plants do grow.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...