CURRENT BORDER THREATS AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS

Borderlands Conservation and Security Act of 2007

On June 6, 2007, Congressman Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., introduced a promising piece of legislation reaffirming the need for the Department of Homeland Security to consult with federal land managers to find appropriate infrastructure to support wildlife migrations and habitat connectivity. The bill would also mandate environmental and cultural resource training for Border Patrol agents on the ground and establish a conservation fund to research impacts of border-control activity on borderland ecosystems and species. We support the Borderlands Conservation and Security Act for promoting a vision of homeland security that includes securing our public lands and wild heritage for future generations. The bill was referred to the House Subcommittee on Border, Maritime, and Global Counterterrorism in June 2007, where it remains under consideration.

The Secure Fence Act of 2006

In late October 2006, former President Bush signed this bill into law — with potentially devastating consequences. This law mandated construction of 700 miles of double-layered reinforced wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, including an uninterrupted stretch from Calexico, California to Douglas, Arizona — nearly the entire length of Arizona’s boundary. The now-constructed wall poses an almost insurmountable threat to jaguar recovery in the borderlands, threatens the vitality of the San Pedro River riparian corridor, and impedes movement and migration of other imperiled wildlife along the border.

The border wall will do little to curb illegal immigration, yet it will have — and already has had — devastating effects on desert habitat. For example, a newly constructed part of the wall that runs through the Organ Pipe National Monument was responsible for flooding during recent storms.  The flooding has caused damage to existing infrastructure, led to severe erosion, had effects on riparian vegetation, and restricted the movement of floodwaters to adjacent deserts.

The areas being obstructed by the border wall serve as wildlife corridors for endangered species who don’t understand political delineations. Animals like the jaguar, Mexican gray wolf, Sonoran pronghorn, ocelot, and flat-tailed horned lizard are harmed by militarization of the border, including the construction of walls and roads and the increased flights of low-level aircraft. The Center will do everything we can to combat the forces that are impeding the recovery of these imperiled species.

The Real ID Act of 2005

The Real ID Act gave the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security the authority to “waive all legal requirements such Secretary, in such Secretary’s sole discretion, determines necessary to ensure expeditious construction of the barriers and roads [along international borders].” This exemption allows the Department of Homeland Security to proceed with infrastructure projects while bypassing federal environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, and National Environmental Policy Act — keystone environmental laws that have already been trampled to increase border infrastructure in California and Arizona.