Border Walls Fight Immigration, Hurt Environment

Border walls along the U.S.-Mexico are being called out by environmentalists for creating negative impacts on the area's environment and local ecology.

1 minute read

November 24, 2007, 7:00 AM PST

By Nate Berg


"In the latest flash point, Homeland Security Department officials took possession of land last week in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in southern Arizona by brokering a land swap with another federal agency, the Fish and Wildlife Service."

"Opponents say the 12-to-15-foot-tall steel fence and its construction will disrupt the habitat of jaguars, pygmy owls and other sensitive fauna in the wildlife refuge, and encourage illegal immigrants to use more remote, ecologically delicate terrain."

"'This is another example of the federal government riding roughshod over America's treasured lands and legal process in its rush to complete a highly ineffective and controversial border wall,' said Matt Clark, the Southwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife, an advocacy group."

Wednesday, November 21, 2007 in The New York Times

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