Immigration, Wildlife and the Wall
In 2001 I spent a delightful few days backpacking near the Mexico/United States border in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. There are three things I’ll never forget about that trip: having our lunch interrupted by the sonic boom from a fighter jet flying very nearby; finding what we thought were jaguar tracks in the sand, and; being awakened in the night by a group of people, most likely illegal immigrants, walking not far from our tent, well off the trail.
The mixture of wildlife, immigration and militarization has gotten profoundly more complex in Organ Pipe and nearly a dozen other national parks, forests, monuments or other federal lands, ever since Congress passed the Secure Fence Act in October 2006. This act called for the construction of a border fence on approximately 850 miles of the 1,950 mile Mexico/U.S. border. The “fence” would be the largest such barrier in the world (not counting the Great Wall of China in its heyday). Congress was purposeful in naming this enormous barrier a “fence,” trying to make it sound benign and simple. But in many places it’s not a fence at all. It’s a wall, not unlike the Great Wall of China, the Berlin Wall, or more recently, the Jerusalem fence/wall. The U.S./Mexico border wall is likely the most significant linear barrier to people and wildlife to be built in modern times. It’s not something we should be proud of. The Secure Fence Act, especially in conjunction with the Real ID Act of 2005, has significantly exacerbated both the humanitarian and environmental consequences of U.S. immigration policy.
The wall is being constructed to keep out people, not animals. But while the wall appears to create an impermeable barrier to wildlife, many studies have found that it does not do the same for illegal immigrants. Instead it shifts migrants to less fortified areas, or encourages them to circumvent it, for example by building tunnels. In addition, by forcing migrants to more remote areas, the wall has led to a significant increase in the number of Mexicans who die seeking a better life by trying to enter the United States.
The environmental consequences of current U.S. border policy are also severe. The newly constructed and proposed sections of the wall are creating barriers to wildlife movement for numerous threatened or imperiled species that depend upon access to habitat on both sides of the border. Looking at photos of the wide swath of walls, fences, roads, cameras and lighting that make up the border I cannot imagine how a person, let alone a wild animal, could ever get across these barriers and the denuded lands that surround them. In addition, a 2008 National Park Service study documented extraordinary hydrologic problems and flooding caused by the wall/fence at Organ Pipe, even though it had been designed to accomodate desert hydrologic systems.
The Secure Fence Act directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to “provide for at least 2 layers of reinforced fencing, the installation of additional physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors.” In many places the agency has cleared all vegetation up to 150 feet on either side of the wall. These areas are so heavily fortified and militarized it seems impossible for wildlife to survive. In addition, the Real ID Act (passed before the Secure Fence Act), gave the DHS the authority to waive all legal requirements that might impede the construction of security barriers. (According to a Congressional Research Service Report, the initial language of the act actually “required” the Secretary of the DHS to waive all laws, but was modified to “allow” it.)
As a result of both the Secure Fence Act and the Real ID Act, the DHS Secretary has been granted an alarming amount of autonomy from environmental laws that could protect wildlife from the impacts of this construction. Why the exemption? Because there is absolutely no way to build this grand militarized border zone without breaking environmental laws – the impacts are just too great. The laws that have been ignored to build the border wall include, the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Clean Water Act, Wilderness Act, National Historic Preservation Act, and many, many others.
Waiving all of these environmental and other regulations is putting dozens of species at risk of extinction or extirpation from the United States, including jaguars, Mexican gray wolves, ocelots, flat-tailed horned lizards, Sonoran pronghorn, Chiricahua leopard frogs and more. Ocelots, for example, apparently number less than 100 along the Rio Grande, and must have access to the larger population in Mexico to prevent inbreeding; the border wall will sever whatever habitat connectivity currently exists. Similarly, only about 75 Sonoran pronghorn still exist on the U.S. side of Organ Pipe. And what about those possible jaguar tracks that my friend and I saw back in 2001? It’s most likely that the animal had come from Mexico, since jaguar were extirpated from the desert southwest in the late 1960s (though occasional sightings have occurred since then from lone Mexican dispersers exploring new territory).
Immigration reform is a daunting issue facing the Congress as well as immigration and human rights activists. In the last few years conservationists have also engaged in this complex debate because of the severe impacts current immigration policies have on wildlife, habitat and water. Environmental justice advocates argue that traditional conservationists should have engaged earlier, and they are right. That said, there are no easy answers to the problems along the border. In 2007, Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva introduced the Borderlands Conservation and Security Act, which would reinstate environmental laws and protect tribal and cultural resources. If it passes, it will be a critical step forward.
Until more comprehensive, humanitarian and environmentally conscious immigration reform is adopted, and let’s hope it is adopted soon, we must request at the least immediate reinstatement and enforcement of environmental laws along the border. Too much is at risk for both natural areas and immigrants alike to continue the current ineffective, damaging policy. Defenders of Wildlife, Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Border Ambassadors, No Border Wall, and many other advocacy groups are working to stop the construction of new sections of the wall, and to encourage alternative approaches to address this challenge.
I’ll go hiking in the amazingly rich and complex natural areas along the border again, but I understand that some don’t look like they did when I was last there. In addition to the walls, there has been significant damage from both migrants and law enforcement driving vehicles off-road. I hope that the next time I’m there, I’ll have a chance to happen across jaguar tracks or an ocelot or a flat tailed lizard, because we no longer have a fortified wall dividing two countries, two peoples, and one ecosystem.
The mixture of wildlife, immigration and militarization has gotten profoundly more complex in Organ Pipe and nearly a dozen other national parks, forests, monuments or other federal lands, ever since Congress passed the Secure Fence Act in October 2006. This act called for the construction of a border fence on approximately 850 miles of the 1,950 mile Mexico/U.S. border. The “fence” would be the largest such barrier in the world (not counting the Great Wall of China in its heyday). Congress was purposeful in naming this enormous barrier a “fence,” trying to make it sound benign and simple. But in many places it’s not a fence at all. It’s a wall, not unlike the Great Wall of China, the Berlin Wall, or more recently, the Jerusalem fence/wall. The U.S./Mexico border wall is likely the most significant linear barrier to people and wildlife to be built in modern times. It’s not something we should be proud of. The Secure Fence Act, especially in conjunction with the Real ID Act of 2005, has significantly exacerbated both the humanitarian and environmental consequences of U.S. immigration policy.
The wall is being constructed to keep out people, not animals. But while the wall appears to create an impermeable barrier to wildlife, many studies have found that it does not do the same for illegal immigrants. Instead it shifts migrants to less fortified areas, or encourages them to circumvent it, for example by building tunnels. In addition, by forcing migrants to more remote areas, the wall has led to a significant increase in the number of Mexicans who die seeking a better life by trying to enter the United States.
The environmental consequences of current U.S. border policy are also severe. The newly constructed and proposed sections of the wall are creating barriers to wildlife movement for numerous threatened or imperiled species that depend upon access to habitat on both sides of the border. Looking at photos of the wide swath of walls, fences, roads, cameras and lighting that make up the border I cannot imagine how a person, let alone a wild animal, could ever get across these barriers and the denuded lands that surround them. In addition, a 2008 National Park Service study documented extraordinary hydrologic problems and flooding caused by the wall/fence at Organ Pipe, even though it had been designed to accomodate desert hydrologic systems.
The Secure Fence Act directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to “provide for at least 2 layers of reinforced fencing, the installation of additional physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors.” In many places the agency has cleared all vegetation up to 150 feet on either side of the wall. These areas are so heavily fortified and militarized it seems impossible for wildlife to survive. In addition, the Real ID Act (passed before the Secure Fence Act), gave the DHS the authority to waive all legal requirements that might impede the construction of security barriers. (According to a Congressional Research Service Report, the initial language of the act actually “required” the Secretary of the DHS to waive all laws, but was modified to “allow” it.)
As a result of both the Secure Fence Act and the Real ID Act, the DHS Secretary has been granted an alarming amount of autonomy from environmental laws that could protect wildlife from the impacts of this construction. Why the exemption? Because there is absolutely no way to build this grand militarized border zone without breaking environmental laws – the impacts are just too great. The laws that have been ignored to build the border wall include, the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Clean Water Act, Wilderness Act, National Historic Preservation Act, and many, many others.
Waiving all of these environmental and other regulations is putting dozens of species at risk of extinction or extirpation from the United States, including jaguars, Mexican gray wolves, ocelots, flat-tailed horned lizards, Sonoran pronghorn, Chiricahua leopard frogs and more. Ocelots, for example, apparently number less than 100 along the Rio Grande, and must have access to the larger population in Mexico to prevent inbreeding; the border wall will sever whatever habitat connectivity currently exists. Similarly, only about 75 Sonoran pronghorn still exist on the U.S. side of Organ Pipe. And what about those possible jaguar tracks that my friend and I saw back in 2001? It’s most likely that the animal had come from Mexico, since jaguar were extirpated from the desert southwest in the late 1960s (though occasional sightings have occurred since then from lone Mexican dispersers exploring new territory).
Immigration reform is a daunting issue facing the Congress as well as immigration and human rights activists. In the last few years conservationists have also engaged in this complex debate because of the severe impacts current immigration policies have on wildlife, habitat and water. Environmental justice advocates argue that traditional conservationists should have engaged earlier, and they are right. That said, there are no easy answers to the problems along the border. In 2007, Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva introduced the Borderlands Conservation and Security Act, which would reinstate environmental laws and protect tribal and cultural resources. If it passes, it will be a critical step forward.
Until more comprehensive, humanitarian and environmentally conscious immigration reform is adopted, and let’s hope it is adopted soon, we must request at the least immediate reinstatement and enforcement of environmental laws along the border. Too much is at risk for both natural areas and immigrants alike to continue the current ineffective, damaging policy. Defenders of Wildlife, Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Border Ambassadors, No Border Wall, and many other advocacy groups are working to stop the construction of new sections of the wall, and to encourage alternative approaches to address this challenge.
I’ll go hiking in the amazingly rich and complex natural areas along the border again, but I understand that some don’t look like they did when I was last there. In addition to the walls, there has been significant damage from both migrants and law enforcement driving vehicles off-road. I hope that the next time I’m there, I’ll have a chance to happen across jaguar tracks or an ocelot or a flat tailed lizard, because we no longer have a fortified wall dividing two countries, two peoples, and one ecosystem.