Chertoff pledges to fight lawsuits targeting border security

Chertoff pledges to fight lawsuits targeting border security
SUZANNE GAMBOA

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff pledged Tuesday to fight all lawsuits against his efforts to secure the border, ranging from building fences to requiring new driver’s licenses.

Chertoff blamed lawsuits like one blocking his department from using Social Security information and another trying to prevent fence construction on the Arizona-Mexico border as part of the reason the federal government has had trouble getting control of the border for the past 30 years.

“I will fight every lawsuit. I will deal with every procedural roadblock. I will use every tool the law allows to continue to press forward in the enforcement of laws,â€