Environmentalists sue to halt Calexico border wall
E filedL CENTRO — Three environmental groups suit against the Trump Administration to halt border wall construction in San Diego and plans for replacement barriers in Calexico, Thursday.
The Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife and Animal Legal Defense Fund strive to prevent building of wall prototypes in San Diego before it begins. They charged the Trump Administration has overstepped its authority by waiving environmental reviews and other laws.
The government has waived reviews seven times per a 2005 law to hurry construction of border barriers, twice under President Trump. The law permits the government to waive dozens of laws, including the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act that mandates extensive reviews of environmental impacts.
Weighing in on the issue was Hector Huerta Nava, deputy consul of the Mexican Consulate in Calexico. Huerta Nava remarked the Mexican government was aware of the waiver of certain laws for expeditious construction of barriers and roads in the international border near Calexico. He added, they are aware of the concern raised among environmental groups and non-governmental organizations on both sides of the border.
“The United States is a country of laws where due process of the law is respected and protected by the U.S. Constitution,” said Huerta Nava. “As these issues have been a channel to a court of law on U.S. soil by environmental groups, it will be up to the decision of the court to rule on this matter. Mexico and the U.S. have agreed to pursue a 21st century border, where security, cooperation and respect for human rights are the guiding principles of a mature and responsible bilateral relation.”
Jamie Rappaport Clark, president of Defenders of Wildlife noted the wall will isolate important southwestern landscapes and push wildlife such as bighorn sheep, jaguars and ocelots to the brink of extinction.
Jose Flores, government teacher at Brawley Union High School, remarked that California continues to emphasize the need to be a good steward to the environment. “As a resident, I’ve come to realize that as people interact with the environment, we need to focus on whether that interaction is positive or negative, since at a later date, the environment will in turn directly interact with us,” he said. “With science, any claim to a phenomena is always backed by evidence which usually leads to civic engagement.”
On Tuesday, the government issued a waiver extending three miles west from a downtown border crossing in Calexico. There, the government will replace an airstrip landing-mat style fence about 14 feet high with a bollard-style fence up to 25 feet high. It plans to award a contract in November and begin construction in February.
Veronica Henderson, an El Centro attorney at law, noted if it takes a lawsuit by organized coalitions of people who care to successfully bring the wall down before it is built, then that is what it will take.
“Fortunately, our government has a system of checks and balances, a three-branch system and these lawsuits demonstrate the necessity of invoking the power of the judiciary to stop what should be unthinkable in a nation of immigrants, the land of the free,” said Henderson.