December 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 39

umented migrants to cross through more
remote areas. This failed to stem immigration, and served to increase environmental
damage as migrants and law enforcement
moved into formerly wild sites. Officials
knew the death count would rise and, over
the past 20 years, more than 6,000 people
have died crossing the border.
In 2005, Congress gave the Secretary of
Homeland Security the authority to waive
laws for border walls. More than three-dozen environmental, American Indian and
historical-protection laws were waived in
the next few years under the REAL ID Act,
and hundreds of miles of border barriers
were constructed with little or no review.
Thousands of miles of roads were created.
New border infrastructure was often constructed in ill-advised locations with poor
engineering, resulting in flooding, erosion
and damage to private property and public
lands. This infrastructure blocked wildlife
movement on a vast scale.
Today, 650 miles of barriers block onethird of the 2,000-mile border. Roughly
300 miles is border wall, with the rest composed of vehicle barriers that allow most
wildlife to come and go freely. Under current plans for the proposed wall, at a cost of
as much as $70 billion, this would change
and would bring with it roads, lights and
even more human activity.
In 2017, U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva and the
Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit seeking a thorough analysis of border
policies under the National Environmental
Policy Act. Rep. Grijalva, who represents
part of Arizona's border region, bridges
equal justice and environmental communities. Another suit challenges prototype
walls constructed near San Diego in critical habitat for endangered species, and
plans to replace 14 miles of wall nearby.
Border Wall Communities:
Who Lives Along the Border?
Undocumented immigration has been
steadily declining since peaking in 2007.

Most people now in the United States
without papers came here legally and
overstayed their visas. Even as border
crossings have declined, migrant fatalities are skyrocketing. Studies show the
proposed wall expansion isn't likely to
stem undocumented immigration, human smuggling or drug smuggling. It will
hurt people living in the borderlands.
People who live along the border are
primarily low-income people of color with
limited political power. The 32 border counties are home to 6.5 million people, 1.8 million of them children. They bear the brunt
of construction, environmental and health
degradation, and other problems that stem
from waiving laws under the REAL ID Act.
Border Wall Opposition
Growing coalitions led by the League of
United Latin American Citizens (LULAC),
GreenLatinos and the Center for Biological
Diversity (the Center), representing hundreds of civil rights, faith, environmental,
health, indigenous, LGBT and border communities, are working together to protect
people, as well as the cultural and environmental well-being of the border region.
Grassroots movements encourage
elected officials to stand with border
communities against further militarization of the U.S. borderlands. The Center's campaign helps states, cities and
counties with these resolutions. More
than 25 cities and counties - from
Berkeley, California, to McAllen, Texas - have recently passed resolutions
against the wall.
The wall is an affront to people, wildlife, places and values. The wall scars
spectacular public lands that belong to
everyone and must be preserved for our
children, and it slams the door shut on
equal justice and human dignity.
Detailed references for this article are available
at
www.parksandrecreation.org/2017/
December/protect-people-wildlife-placesand-values-stop-the-border-wall.

The City Project

GreenLatinos Summit 2017, Niria
Alicia Garcia, Honor the Earth.

A snapshot of life
along the border:
52 percent of the population is
Latino, compared to the 15 percent in
the United States.
37 percent of children live in
poverty - more than twice the national
average of 17 percent.

84 percent of those living within
one mile of the border are people of
color.

Three of the 10 poorest U.S.
counties are in the borderlands.

21 percent of border counties are
economically distressed.

41 percent of native people in the
borderlands live at or below the poverty
level.

The unemployment rate along
the U.S. side of the border is two to three
times higher than the U.S. average.

Marta A. Segura is the Southern California
Engagement Director for the Center for Biological
Diversity (msegura@biologicaldiversity.org).
Robert García is founding Director-Counsel of
The City Project/Proyecto del Pueblo and
Assistant Professor, Charles Drew University of
Medicine and Science (rgarcia@cityprojectca.org).

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December 2017 - Parks & Recreation

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