10 November 21-27, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents “Right now the hot button [topic] is lead because the EPA told these cities ‘You need to report to your municipalities that [the pipes] should be checked,” Johnson told the Ob- server. “It’s not likely you’re going to find lead pipes anywhere. I’ve been doing this for close to 30 years and I’ve never found lead pipes.” Complying With an EPA Order The letters sent out by DWU were a neces- sary measure to comply with changes made to the Environmental Protection Agency’s lead and copper rules, which were revised in 2021. The changes to the provision called on water utilities across the country to com- plete an inventory of the material all service lines are made of, and that inventory was submitted to the EPA in October. In many cases the material service lines are made of is “unknown,” which is the case for your service line if you received a letter. Cities now have 10 years to make that un- known, known, and Dallas will be required to investigate a majority of the private lines in the city. Of the 320,491 service lines managed by DWU, around 235,000 customers have been identified as having a service line made of unknown material, the spokesperson said. “Property owners are responsible for maintaining the private portion of the ser- vice line, including replacing any lead plumbing inside their premises and along their property coming from the meter,” we were told by the city. So far, only six homes have been identi- fied by the city as having galvanized pipes — steel pipes dipped in a protective zinc — that should be replaced, the city said. Galvanized pipes, more common in homes built prior to the 1960s, can contain small amounts of lead. No service lines have been positively identified for lead. If you happen to know what material your pipes are made of, you can share that information with the city through an online survey. Homeowners who are concerned about contaminants in their water should start with an at-home drinking water test kit, Johnson advises. These kits are similar to chlorine testing kits used for swimming pool maintenance and can be found for less than $10 at Target and Walmart. “That’s going to be the fastest, cheapest, easiest test to do,” Johnson said. As a second measure, Johnson recom- mends purchasing a lab testing kit. With a bit of a price bump (around $20), you can mail a small vial filled with water to a lab to have it tested by professionals. If those tests come back positive, John- son said it is more likely that the source of the lead is faulty filtration than lead pipes. Filtration is something he believes home- owners need to be more aware of, and he recommends looking at the Environmental Working Group’s Tap Water Database to see exactly what contaminants have been iden- tified in the tap water in your ZIP code. ▼ IMMIGRATION ‘CULTURE OF FEAR’ TRUMP’S MASS DEPORTATION PLAN LEAVES TEXAS IMMIGRATION ADVOCATES WARY. BY EMMA RUBY I n a return to 2016 “Build the wall” form, President-elect Donald Trump is singling out those living in the United States ille- gally. During his campaign, Trump vowed to carry out the “largest deportation effort in American history,” and the early appoint- ments of immigration hardliners to key ad- ministration positions seem to prove the promise wasn’t a bluff. But Trump’s first presidency — marred by controversial immigration policies like the Muslim ban and family separation at the southern border — may have given those who oppose his immigration proposals time to prepare for what is to come. In a statement made the day after the election, the ACLU remarked that the orga- nization fought against the first Trump ad- ministration through over 400 lawsuits and is prepared to “do it again.” RAICES Texas, a provider of immigration-related legal ser- vices, shared a similar statement on election day, warning the Trump administration that the organization is ready to go to court to de- fend the rights of immigrants. According to the Pew Research Center, more than 11 million undocumented immi- grants live in the United States, nearly 2 mil- lion in Texas alone. Though Mexico has long been the most common country of birth for the United States’ immigrant population, the number of immigrants coming into the U.S. from other continents has grown steadily since COVID-19, the center reports. “We have an understanding of how the first Trump administration worked, with re- gard specifically to immigration policy. We also have an understanding of what has been stated on the record by campaign officials and [administration appointees],” Faisal Al- Juburi, chief external affairs officer of RAICES Texas, told the Observer. “But at the same time, we also know that there’s so much more to be revealed.” One sign of what could be coming was handed down by a federal judge recently, Al- Juburi said. U.S. District Court Judge J. Campbell Barker, who was appointed to the Eastern District of Texas court by Trump during his first term, ruled against a Biden administration program that created a streamlined path to naturalization for illegal immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens. Texas was one of 16 states that chal- lenged the “Keeping Families Together” program, which Texas Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton called an “unlawful parole scheme.” While the Justice Department can ap- peal last week’s ruling, Trump has pledged to dismantle all of the immigration policy progress made under the Biden administra- tion. What’s more, legal advocacy groups are now having to “contend” with the many Trump judicial appointments who have “a history of ruling against anything that can be deemed pro-immigration,” Al-Juburi said. Another indicator of the immigration policy to come: the appointments of Tom Homan and Stephen Miller to prominent roles in the Trump administration. Miller, who is expected to be named White House deputy chief of staff for policy, will likely lead the development and execu- tion of Trump’s anti-immigration agenda. Miller served as a senior adviser in Trump’s first administration and was a lead author of the plan that separated children from their parents at the southern border. His appoint- ment to an elevated position in the White House “does not bode well for immigration in America,” Al-Juburi said. Miller’s position has been confirmed by inside sources to CNN, but Trump himself has confirmed the appointment of Homan — who started his career as a border patrol agent and was the Director of ICE during Trump’s first presidency — as Border Czar. In a post to the social media app Truth So- cial, Trump said Homan would do a “fantas- tic, and long awaited for, job” of handling the southern and northern borders and immi- gration enforcement. “[Illegal immigrants] better start packing now,” Homan said onstage at the Republi- can National Convention last summer. He expressed support for Trump’s widespread deportation plan, which could see as many as a million immigrants each year “returned to their country of origin.” In an interview with 60 Minutes last month, Homan said the program would not look like “a mass sweep of neighborhoods” or “building concentra- tion camps,” but targeted raids on areas where illegal immigrants are known to be. “Is there a way to carry out mass depor- tation without separating families?” 60 Min- utes Reporter Cecilia Vega asked Homan Sara Button President-elect Donald Trump is vowing mass deportations. Unfair Park from p8
