Legislation That Secures America’s Border While Protecting Local Communities and Wildlife

27/10/2007 00:00:00 June 2007. Congressman Raúl Grijalva has introduced a bill to the US House of Representatives that would secure America’s border with Mexico while reducing the negative impact on local communities and resources, including national parks, wildlife refuges and monuments that are home to several critically endangered species. The Act would amend existing immigration and border security laws to help alleviate the devastating impacts of undocumented immigration and border enforcement activities on public lands, wildlife and borderland communities. ‘Congressman Grijalva’s bill brings some much needed common sense to immigration reform and border security,’ said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife. ‘It strikes an appropriate balance between ensuring our borders are secure and conserving our treasured lands and wildlife.’

The goal of the bill is to ensure protections for wildlife, local communities and federally protected lands, including national treasures such as Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, while securing the border against undocumented immigrant traffic. In order to achieve this goal, the bill:
• Provides the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with the ability to decide whether fences, vehicle barriers or virtual fences would be most effective in securing the border.
• Gives land management agencies, Native American tribes and local communities a voice in border construction decisions.
• Requires compliance with laws meant to protect the air, water, wildlife, culture and the health and safety of people in borderland communities.
• Funds initiatives that help mitigate damage to borderland wildlife and resources. Over a quarter of the U.S.-Mexico border lies within public lands on which a large number of imperilled species rely. The border patrol estimates that near the Arizona-Mexico border alone there are 39 species protected or proposed to be protected under the Endangered Species Act. However, according to the REAL ID Act passed by Congress in 2006, DHS is allowed to waive any and all federal, state and local laws to construct walls, roads and other barriers in the vicinity of the border. Congressman Grijalva’s bill limits this authority and requires that DHS consult with local officials and land mangers to determine the effect that a wall will have on the communities and wildlife in the area before constructing a fence and if necessary, allows for DHS to explore other options.

Security without destruction
‘National security comes first, but we can have security without destroying our valued lands and imperilled wildlife,’ said Schlickeisen. ‘Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff has already twice waived important federal laws to begin building a wall. In one of these instances he also ignored recommendations by local experts in order to construct an unnecessary and environmentally devastating wall in the Barry M. Goldwater Range. In such remote areas, vehicle barriers and virtual fence technology can often be more effective than walls in securing the border, and they do so without damaging wildlife, communities and protected lands.’