Enviros File Lawsuit to Stop Border Wall

[Jean]

by BOB PRICE
13 Apr 2017
Tucson, AZ
638 comments

A leftist environmentalist nonprofit and a Democrat Arizona congressman filed a lawsuit that could halt or slow construction of President Trump’s promised border wall. The group wants an impact to determine any harm caused to jaguars and Mexican gray wolves by a barrier and additional border agents.

In February, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary John F. Kelly ordered the hiring of 5,000 more Border Patrol agents and 500 U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) officers, reported Breitbart Texas. DHS also discontinued the Obama Administration’s “catch and release” program known as the “Priority Enforcement Program” (PEP).

The Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity, whose website includes a banner “#EARTH2TRUMP: RESIST,” “Saving Polar Bears,” and “Endangered Species Condoms,” filed the lawsuit on Wednesday asking for a review of the social, economic, and environmental impacts of a border wall.

“Trump’s border wall will divide and destroy the incredible communities and wild landscapes along the border,” claims the Center’s executive director, Kieran Suckling.

The nonprofit’s ED added, “Endangered species like jaguars and ocelots don’t observe international boundaries and should not be sacrificed for unnecessary border militarization. Their survival and recovery depends on being able to move long distances across the landscape and repopulate places on both sides of the border where they’ve lived for thousands of years.”

U.S. Rep. Paul Grijalva (D-AZ) is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit. He released a statement after it was filed saying:

American environmental laws are some of the oldest and strongest in the world, and they should apply to the borderlands just as they do everywhere else. These laws exist to protect the health and well-being of our people, our wildlife, and the places they live.

Grijalva, who says his district includes 300 miles of the U.S./Mexico Border added, “Trump’s wall – and his fanatical approach to our southern border – will do little more than perpetuate human suffering while irrevocably damaging our public lands and the wildlife that depend on them.”

The environmental group and the Arizona Democrat are seeking a judicial mandate to require the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to prepare a “programmatic environmental impact statement.”

The congressman says that road construction, off-road vehicle patrols, lighting, base camps and checkpoints on the border would “significantly impact the borderlands environment.”

The plaintiffs also charge that the Immigration and Naturalization Service (now DHS) has not updated the programmatic environmental impact statement for the U.S./Mexico Border enforcement program since 2001.

The statement released by Rep. Grijalva concludes, “Meanwhile, the number of undocumented migrants moving through the southwestern borderlands is at a historic low, and the border is more secure than it’s ever been.”

The plaintiffs filed the legal action in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/...p-border-wall/

[Judy]

So here come the courts against the wall. So, we're back to the beginning again:

ENFORCE AND DEPORT!

ENFORCE AND DEPORT!

ENFORCE AND DEPORT!

Fast and Furious. Quickly and Quietly.

[Jean]

And there they go judge shopping again...

[Judy]

They can tie it up for years. Arizona is in the 9th Circuit.

ENFORCE AND DEPORT!

ENFORCE AND DEPORT!

ENFORCE AND DEPORT!

[Scott-in-FL]

The congressman says that road construction, off-road vehicle patrols, lighting, base camps and checkpoints on the border would “significantly impact the borderlands environment.”

So has overpopulating the U.S. with illegal immigrants and their offspring.

The statement released by Rep. Grijalva concludes, “Meanwhile, the number of undocumented migrants moving through the southwestern borderlands is at a historic low, and the border is more secure than it’s ever been.”

Until we get another democrat in the White House. Just imagine what would be occurring had Hillary won. We'd be overrun with illegals. A wall is a permanent obstacle and is needed.

[MW]

I support environmental stewardship as much as, if not more than, most. However, our national security and the well-being of our legal population has to take priority. Building the wall is not an all or nothing deal. I believe many of the border environmental concerns can be mitigated with a well thought out plan. Take the environment into consideration wherever possible, but build that darn wall!

[Beezer]

We also need this WALL built for our future...the wildlife is not going to defend our border against attack.

Mexico has thousands of terrorists, cartel and gangs that could bum rush and flood our border. I do not trust corrupt Mexico, we need to look to the future and protect ourselves.

We need this Wall now!

[Jean]

by ASSEMBLYMAN TIM DONNELLY
14 Apr 2017
San Diego, CA

An environmental group and an Arizona Democrat legislator have filed the first lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s border wall, though the case may be thrown out.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the Center for Biological Diversity, a well-known national environmental group along, with Rep. Raúl Grijalva, (D-AZ), the highest ranking member of the House Committee on Natural Resources, filed a legal challenge Wednesday against the Trump’s administration over its proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall, which will reportedly start in San Diego County.

The lawsuit specifically names the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which has been soliciting bids for the wall project. The agency informed Breitbart News that it is standard procedure to not comment on any pending litigation.

The Hill reports that the lawsuit focuses on a requirement by Department of Homeland Security to draft a new environmental review to examine the impacts of the wall on the environment.

“Trump’s border wall will divide and destroy the incredible communities and wild landscapes along the border,” Kierán Suckling, the group’s executive director, said in a Wednesday statement, reported by The Hill. “Endangered species like jaguars and ocelots don’t observe international boundaries and should not be sacrificed for unnecessary border militarization,” he added.

The lawsuit’s prospects are not promising, but the goal may be to delay, rather than stop, the building of the wall. A law passed in 2006 — the same year the the Secure Fence Act became law — will likely trump the legal action. It gives DHS a waiver from environmental laws that hamper construction everywhere else in California, granting the department tremendous latitude in the border region in the name of national security.

In recent months, the border wall, which was a controversial linchpin of President Trump’s campaign, has become the symbol of resistance to his policies. Pension funds in California are threatening to divest from any company that participates in building the border wall, and the California legislature is planning to consider a lifetime ban from state contracts against any company that works on the wall.

In an interesting side note, a Los Angeles Times report noted that one contractor addressed threats to wildlife — raised by the lawsuit and Democrat lawmakers alike — with an innovative design that allows some animals to cross over the wall.

http://www.breitbart.com/california/...be-thrown-out/

[Judy]

The lawsuit’s prospects are not promising, but the goal may be to delay, rather than stop, the building of the wall. A law passed in 2006 — the same year the the Secure Fence Act became law — will likely trump the legal action. It gives DHS a waiver from environmental laws that hamper construction everywhere else in California, granting the department tremendous latitude in the border region in the name of national security.

Oh, that's good!! But then we have an immigration law that allows the President to prohibit entry of anyone he thinks is not suitable for entry, yet, the 9th circuit blocked both Trump travel bans. You just never know. Hope it goes our way so the wall construction can start. Hope Congress will find the $2.6 billion Trump has asked for in the supplemental budget so these items for the 62 miles of wall and additional funding to increase Border Patrol and ICE agents can proceed quickly.

Thanks for the article, Jean!!

[nntrixie]

Have these people seen the pictures of the environmental damage caused by the illegals and their making the area a dumping ground for all their water bottles, clothing, toilets, needles, etc.?

Is anyone talking about the damage they do to the plant life in the area. They cut water lines to stock tanks and just let them run - water is a precious commodity in this country - more so in the SW.

Then, of course, have they talked about the environmental impact of putting millions of people on our infrastructure in such a short period of time. It is putting a strain on the water, sewer, streets, and air. The first thing illegals do when they get enough for a down payment is purchase a vehicle. All those extra vehicles spewing pollutants into the atmosphere.

So the wall will do more damage?

Yes, the wall will certainly impact some facets of the environment in that area - but it may also save a lot of it as well - including humans.