Stop the Border Wall
Sponsored by SW Environmental Center
For more information email Roger Turner or call him at 522-5552.
What we are asking
Contact President Obama, Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano, and Senator Bingaman and ask them to stop any further construction of the border wall until the human, environmental, and legal impacts are fully assessed.
1. President Obama: call 202-456-1111 or leave message at www.whitehouse.gov/contact
2. DHS Secretary Napolitano: call 202-282-8495 or send FAX to 202-282-8495 (no email)
3. Senator Bingaman: call 1-800-433-8658 (toll free in NM) or send email to senator_bingaman@bingaman.senate.gov
Upon Completion of this action, please send “I did it” to Unified Action.
The Issue
The Secure Fence Act passed by Congress in 2006 mandated 670 miles of border wall be built between Mexico and the U.S. Sixty-nine miles, largely in New Mexico, remain unbuilt. Those 69 miles would further fragment critical wildlife corridors for endangered and threatened species including jaguar, ocelot, and Sonoran pronghorn.
The 670 miles were determined purely by the previous Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff. Section 102(c) of the 2005 Real ID Act gave him the authority to waive all local, state, and federal laws designed to protect wildlife, clean water and air, cultural resources, and human health and safety.
The decision to extend or stop the border wall will be made by the new DHS Secretary, Janet Napolitano. The timing is right to address the new administration regarding the need to change our misguided national security policies along the border. Building and maintaining the full 670 miles over the next 20 years will cost between 11.5 and 49 billion dollars.
The border wall is ineffective and does nothing to solve the real security problems such as funding to make ports of entry more secure. We need a comprehensive approach to border security—one that includes immigration reform, addresses root causes, and does not cause harm to borderland wildlife, ecosystems, and human communities.
Links
www.notexasborderwall.com
www.ilcp.com
www.defenders.org
