History and practice of 8 U.S. Code §1103 notes, Sec. 102(c): Improvement of barriers at border

To expedite the construction of barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, an extensive array of laws has been waived. This authority is codified in 8 U.S. Code §1103 notes, Sec. 102(c) - Improvement of Barriers at Border. In 1996 the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 were waived directly by Congress and in 2005 Congress delegated authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to waive any law necessary with the REAL ID Act. Covering environmental protections, historic preservation, procurement procedures, religious freedoms, and more, waiver determinations facilitate the extensive and more rapid construction of border barriers. This dataset documents the history of this aspect of U.S. law as debated, as legislated, as proclaimed, and as litigated. 

This dataset is designed to accompany the following academic paper: Madsen, Kenneth D. 2022. Institutionalising the Exception: Homeland Security Section 102(c) Waivers and the Construction of Border Barriers. Geopolitics. https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2022.2126766

Methods
Most documents in this dataset are from the U.S. government or other publicly available websites and are collected here to support the accompanying academic paper and be centrally available for future reference and research. Other files reflect the author's work to list, categorize, describe, and otherwise make sense of these collected documents. Many files are annotated and have relevant sections highlighted.