1 of 3 | Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is again waiving environmental review to speed the construction of a southern border wall. Photo by Annabelle Gordon/UPI | License Photo
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday approved the seventh waiver intended to hasten construction of the border wall in Texas by sidestepping environmental reviews and other requirements.
The waiver applies to about five miles of a new 30-foot tall border wall in Starr and Hidalgo counties near the southern tip of the state, according to a department press release. The move is part of President Donald Trump’s long-held goal of erecting a border wall along the southern border as part of his hardline approach to immigration.
With waiver in hand, Noem will be able to override the National Environmental Policy Act and other similar requirements. In a document justifying the move, Noem cited a high level of illegal border crossings and drug trafficking in the area. She wrote that in the last four years authorities had apprehended 1.5 million people trying to cross illegally and had seized more than 87 pounds of heroin, and more than 118 pounds of fentanyl, among other drugs.
However, the Center for Biological Diversity blasted the decision in a press release, citing figures showing that border crossings have plummeted over the last year. The center stated that the area is home to endangered ocelots, aplomado falcons, hundreds of migratory birds as well as plants that would be harmed by the wall.
“There’s a special cruelty in walling off national wildlife refuges that were created for conservation,”Laiken Jordahl, the center’s Southwest Conservation Advocate, said in the statement. “These lands exist to protect endangered species and connect fragmented habitat, not to be bulldozed for Trump’s wall.”
The center has previously sued the Trump administration over past waivers.
In July, the Noem signed a similar waiver for 17 miles of the barrier to prevent migrants from swimming across the Rio Grande. A month earlier, Noem took a similar action for a 27-mile stretch in Arizona near Tucson and another that extended into New Mexico.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has about 100 miles of the barrier in varying states of completion with money from previous appropriations, according to the announcement. The so-called One Big Beautiful Bill included $46.5 billion for the project that will fund secondary walls, waterborne barriers, as well as patrols, cameras, sensors and others.
