Desert Wildlife Faces Border Wall

"[The Department of Homeland Security's border fence along the Rio Grande will bisect] Rio Bosque Wetlands Park, a 372-acre wildlife sanctuary on the banks of the Rio Grande River where El Paso, Texas meets Juarez, Mexico.

The construction of the fence is mandated under the Secure Fence Act, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2006 as a way of curtailing illegal immigration. As senators, both presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama, voted for the Act.

[Environmentalists are concerned that] the wall will make the Park much less hospitable to both birds and mammals and may prevent some animals, like badgers and bobcats, from returning to the area."