Landowners and conservationists are irate. Contractors are building access roads and retaining walls in this protected wilderness in Arizona's Coronado National Memorial to erect President Trump's border barrier. "I think it's important to have wildlife out there. - Nature lovers come here for the oak-dotted canyons, rugged peaks, extravagant vistas and grasslands so verdant that the nearby San Rafael Valley was used as a setting for the 1955 musical Oklahoma! John Kurc Most illegal immigrants right now are being immediately expelled back to Mexico under a public health order amid the coronavirus pandemic. Much of the current wall is replacing dozens of miles of so-called Normandy barriers that stop vehicles driving over from Mexico, but not people on foot. The Diamond A Ranch, which is located next to the construction site, has sued the government, claiming the blasting has sent "car-sized boulders tumbling down onto ranch property. "The border wall has made our city safer. Blasting crews have used explosives — they call it pioneering — to level the cliff sides for access roads. "They're trying to do as much as they can in the next 50 days. ", Opponents say the wall will worsen flooding. Trump's wall forcing unplanned experiment on deserts, "There's no doubt they're accelerating the rate of construction," says ecologist Ron Pulliam, who has been monitoring the wall's progress on the Arizona border. The number of Central Americans is growing, which Mr. Morgan said is likely due to migrants believing they’ll have an easier time burrowing into the country under a Biden administration. And there it was. Enrique Tarrio, Proud Boys leader, visits White House as Trump supporters rally in D.C. Quiz: Do you remember these popular TV couples? "There's only a 4-inch gap between the bollards in the wall," says Traphagen, who joined Kurc for the drone excursion, "so it excludes anything larger than a ground squirrel.". Property owners warn the steel bollard wall across the creeks will catch debris and worsen flooding. The Mexico–United States barrier (Spanish: barrera México–Estados Unidos), also known as the border wall, is a series of vertical barriers along the Mexico–United States border intended to reduce illegal immigration to the United States from Mexico. hide caption, Dynamite raises clouds of dust above Guadalupe Canyon, near the New Mexico-Arizona border. Simply put, a border wall can consist of more than a physical wall made out of concrete and steel. Mr. Morgan said word has gotten out, and smugglers are turning to juveniles as new customers. Like Huish, many landowners are upset by plans for the massive steel-and-concrete barrier in the malpais, or badlands, near the Arizona-New Mexico border. Critics consider this a desecration of some of the last wild places along the U.S.-Mexico divide. He said they haven’t done so. America's southern border is big news. Property owners warn the steel bollard wall across the creeks will catch debris and worsen flooding. Valer Clark is president of Cuenca Los Ojos, a land conservation group that has spent decades restoring ranchland and wetlands in Mexico on property next to Trump's wall. The border wall system will include an 18-30 foot tall steel bollard wall, all-weather roads, lighting, enforcement cameras, and other related technology to create a complete enforcement zone. Gray hair tumbles out of a sombrero, as he sets his little aircraft on the ground. Quiz: US Citizenship Test - Could You Pass? The U.S. government would save about $2.6 billion if President-elect Joe Biden halts construction on the border wall project on his first day in office, … The Diamond A Ranch, which is located next to the construction site, has sued the government, claiming the blasting has sent "car-sized boulders tumbling down onto ranch property." Trump's 576-mile border wall is expected to cost nearly $20 million per mile, which is more expensive than any other wall under construction in the world. Verónica G. Cárdenas for NPR The wall was part of the flood control plan previously approved by the commission, and portions of the levee have already been altered to prepare for the construction of the border wall. JavaScript is required for full functionality on this website, but scripting is currently disabled. He said more than 11% of the children test positive when they reach HHS custody, which he said marks a serious danger of virus spread since they’re being sent from border facilities to the HHS shelters across the country. "And now what I'm seeing is a thousand times worse," he says. The government would waste “billions of dollars” in sunk costs with nothing to show for it if the Biden administration were to halt border wall construction, the country’s border chief said Monday. What does the border wall look like, anyway? "What we used to see in this city was illegals running up and down our alleys, through our streets, chases by the Border Patrol. This is one of 29 construction projects being performed by 13 different contractors from San Diego to Brownsville, Texas. Southern Border Constructors and Gibraltar-Caddell Joint Venture. President Trump made building a wall on the southern border to stop the flow of illegal immigration one of the his top priorities of his term in office. Contractors are building concrete culverts across creekbeds on the border. 10/29/2020 03:05 PM EDT. The border fence begins in Texas, but it's miles inland from the border's edge at the Gulf of Mexico. The Department of Homeland Security has waived dozens of federal environmental protections — such as the Arizona Wilderness Act and the Endangered Species Act — in order to erect the wall in these sensitive landscapes, and to avoid lawsuits. The southern U.S. border has about 650 miles of barriers that take a variety of forms. And officers at ports of entry encountered 2,951 inadmissible migrants last month, about the same as the 2,900 a month before. Click Already-let contacts would have to be paid out according to cancel clauses, hundreds of thousands of tons of steel would have to be stored or dumped, and ravines that had been dug in preparation for construction could have to be refilled, acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan told reporters. Mexico is on the left. Claim: "We've started building the wall" at the Mexico border. The new border wall has threatened to erase that history once again. ‘Every single case has been ruled on’: Trump legal team vows to pursue appeals, file new challenges, Democrats hope wins in Georgia runoffs will spell end to Senate filibuster, Cuomo pee policing reversed after outrage; rule forbade N.Y. restaurant patrons from using bathroom, North Face accused of 'virtue-signaling' for refusing oil-and-gas firm's jacket order, Trump hypes 'wild' protest scheduled for day Congress counts electoral votes, Click A USA TODAY NETWORK special report examines the impact of Trump’s proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall, exploring every foot of the 2,000-mile boundary. "In many portions of the proposed border wall, grades before construction began were so steep that the land was accessible only by foot and mule," reads the complaint. Mr. Morgan said he would love to talk with the Biden team about the issue, but because of the way transitions are structured, it’s up to them to contact him. But nobody asked my opinion. "Clouds of demolition dust, shrapnel, and car-sized boulders have come tumbling down the Roosevelt Reservation onto ranch property," says the complaint, which calls for an immediate halt to construction. But that has not mollified neighbors. John Kurc Omar, Tlaib, Sarsour to headline Georgia Senate event as Warnock fights anti-Semitism claims, Trump: Swing states committing ‘severely punishable crime’ by certifying Biden’s win, Diamond and Silk urge military intervention after Supreme Court rejects Texas lawsuit, Media organizations say journalists should get the COVID-19 vaccine early, Doctor: “Doing This Every Morning Can Snap Back Sagging Skin (No Creams Needed)”, Vaccine expert warns pandemic will continue if Americans don’t vaccinate. The 67,101 illegal immigrants nabbed by Border Patrol agents along the U.S.-Mexico line last month was almost the same as the 67,639 arrested in October. "They're cutting roads into a place where no vehicle could go, not a four-wheeler," he says. Moreover, the area is a critical wildlife corridor. He is not a spokesman for CBP. The immigrant-rights advocates pursuing those cases have said if they prevail, they will ask courts to order that any wall built with the Defense Department cash must come down. I think it's more of a cop-out for some people, and they use that as their little ace up their sleeve so they can prevent border security. In New Mexico, Arizona and California, the government is erecting the wall on a 60-foot strip of federal land that parallels the international border called the Roosevelt Reservation. hide caption. But beneath those broad numbers, officials said they’re seeing worrying trends. here for reprint permission. Cuomo pee policing reversed after outrage; rule forbade N.Y. restaurant patrons from using bathroom "I know there's wildlife and all that stuff. "So what I'll do is I'll fly fairly close to the top of that ridge to try to determine where they're going to dynamite," he says, directing his drone toward the defaced slopes in the Coronado. The so-called "wall" looks more like a fence. The reason the 30-foot wall with its high-intensity security lights and wide patrol road is sparking such outrage is because of the region's rich biodiversity and stunning natural beauty. He's a wedding and rock 'n' roll photographer from Charleston, S.C., who fell in love with the Sonoran desert. But I don't think enough research has been done to actually say, 'Hey, if you build out here, all the jaguars in the world are gonna die.' A private border wall project began with a massive GoFundMe campaign that led to a shocking indictment He and the President had a falling-out … "When I was growing up in Douglas," he says, "you were having groups of 50 and 60 illegal aliens running through the alleys.". here for reprint permission, ‘Uniting many but not all’: Trump’s claims of voting fraud divide GOP, Trump urged to send Paris climate plan to Senate for ratification to block Biden. Why a wall? Trump's border chief slams Twitter for locking his account after border wall tweet . "Wow! (It was) unsafe for our local citizens," says Douglas Mayor Donald Huish. "Unless a Suspension of Work order is issued, USACE expects contractors to continue work as obligated under their contracts," the agency said in statement. Lawsuits against Mr. Trump’s move to siphon the money from the Pentagon are still pending, with one poised to reach the Supreme Court next year. The border wall on the Rio Grande We drove over the flood levee, down a dusty road that dead-ends at a sugar cane farm. U.S. Customs and Border Protection maintains that the barrier is necessary to gain operational control of the Southwest border. The dramatic extent of landscape alteration in the remote Arizona borderlands is being documented through drone footage shot by John Kurc. Heavy equipment is clearing a path for the border wall next to Coronado National Forest in Southern Arizona. The barrier is not a continuous structure but a series of obstructions variously classified as "fences" or "walls". John Burnett/NPR And Trump wants to fulfill his promise that he's securing the border.". "I mean, it's 40 years of work that I'm seeing dry up, and for what? And they do it without passing costs on to U.S. taxpayers. ", Del Cueto's hometown is Douglas, Ariz., which sits across from Agua Prieta, Mexico. ", "The wall is a good solution for around the city limits," he continues, "but once it gets outside of town into the wilderness area, that's where the surveillance technology should have taken over. “More costs to the taxpayers, for nothing,” Mr. Morgan told reporters as he detailed the latest border numbers. Immigration. Today, Douglas is sealed off from Mexico by a tall wall built under President George W. Bush and completed by Trump. He documents destruction caused by wall construction with his drone camera. Monday, December 14, 2020. In this April 5, 2019, file photo, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicle sits near the barrier as President Donald Trump visits a new section of the border fence with Mexico in Calexico. hide caption. The border fence separating San Diego from Tijuana, Mexico, extends into the Pacific Ocean in May 2017. ", Huish was unaware that wall teams have been dynamiting near Guadalupe Canyon — another beloved, biodiverse natural area located east of Douglas, where he goes deer hunting. Mr. Biden said during the campaign that will end when he takes office. When shown an iPhone photo of the new switchback roads zigzagging up Guadalupe Peak, he reacts with shock: "Oh no! So far, the Trump administration has won nearly every court challenge to the border wall. Owners of the Diamond A Ranch sued the government last week in federal court. Gary Nabhan, a longtime author and ethnobotanist in the region, says Trump's wall is forcing an unplanned experiment on the deserts of Southern Arizona. "The wall is going through such sensitive areas and going up so fast that no one knows what effect it's going to have on wildlife," he says. North Face accused of 'virtue-signaling' for refusing oil-and-gas firm's jacket order A wall is any type of barrier that deters unlawful border crossers. Contractors are building concrete culverts across creekbeds on the border. Politically Unstable with Charlie Hurt & Andy Parks. But with a change of presidents only six weeks away, U.S. attorneys have sped up their condemnation of property along the international river in Texas to build the wall. In his speech, he promised to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. hide caption. President-elect Joe Biden would save American taxpayers $2.6 billion if he stops Trump's border wall project on Jan 21 as promised, according to new estimates from the U.S. Army Corps of … In particular, the number of juveniles showing up at the border without parents — known in government-speak as Unaccompanied Alien Children, or UACs — is soaring after a recent federal judge’s ruling that gave them special treatment amid the coronavirus pandemic. The drone descends out of the brilliant blue sky like a giant insect, with the first images of the Border Patrol's new roads up the west side of the mountain. hide caption. The agency says the mountainous zones — as beautiful as they may be — are used by drug and human smugglers, and the agency's mission is to stop that illegal traffic. This is almost like busy work they're doing," exclaims biologist Myles Traphagen as he drives his truck up to the construction staging area and beholds the destruction for the first time. Just returned from 15 days on the border, from San Diego, Calif to Brownsville, TX. He said the incoming administration would also have to be careful about how it unwinds the wall, since much of the contracting goes beyond the barrier, to include high-speed roads and other technology that all sides have agreed in the past is helpful. Authorities pass a border wall construction site, in Mission, Texas, Monday, Nov. 16, 2020. But U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan recently ruled that UACs can’t be included in that public health order, and must instead follow the pre-COVID rules of being transferred to social workers for the Health and Human Services Department. UPDATE! A pathway cleared by explosives to make way for border wall construction separates Mexico, right, and the USA, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020, in Guadalupe Canyon, Ariz. Construction of the border wall, mostly in government owned wildlife refuges and Indigenous territory, has led to environmental damage and the scarring of unique desert and mountain landscapes that … By contrast, in all of April just 712 UACs were encountered. 'Border wall has made our city safer' U.S. Customs and Border Protection maintains that the barrier is necessary to gain operational control of the Southwest border. - Elsewhere, fences start and stop with huge gaps in between. A U.S. Border Patrol vehicle sits at a fence opening near the U.S.-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas, on Jan. 5, 2017. They're dynamiting mountainsides and bulldozing pristine desert for a barrier the incoming Biden administration is expected to cancel. Mexico is on the left. A video taken by a Mexican citizen shows the newly replaced border fence in Mexicali being scaled by two men with a rope ladder, one of whom makes it over to the United States. “People need to know that this is what the reality is.”, TOP STORIES But at the end of the day, as callous and as horrible as this sounds, I think the lives of people is a lot more important than anything else," says Art Del Cueto, with the National Border Patrol Council, the agents' union. Kurc says when he visited this place three months ago, it was unscarred. Work on the border wall has caused environmental damage, preventing animals from moving freely and scarring unique mountain and desert landscapes that conservationists fear could be … Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click to Read More "But now they're cutting into the mountain to create access to build a wall.". Wall construction proceeds much more slowly in Texas where most of the border acreage is in private hands and must be acquired through the power of eminent domain. Trump, in his many public statements on immigration and border security, has said an … A double border wall near San Diego blocks undocumented migrants from using the Tijuana River—located on the other side of the second fence—as a corridor into the U.S. And CBP assures that it will dispatch crews to unlock gates in the wall to let the floodwaters pass. Trump's insistence that … (Reuters/Brendan McDermid) Trump first proposed the border wall when he announced his presidential candidacy in June 2015. The structure crosses numerous dry creeks and riverbeds. About 430 miles of barrier have been erected under President Trump, and that’s expected to hit 450 miles by the end of this year. “There will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration,” he vowed over the summer — though he said he won’t tear down what’s already been built. "Now I'm documenting destruction versus complete wilderness areas.". That's not good. John Kurc The Trump administration has waived dozens of environmental and cultural … A border wall — that Mexico would pay for — was one of Trump’s main promises during the 2016 campaign, when chants of “Build the wall!” resonated at MAGA rallies. and View Comments, Terms of Use / Privacy Policy / Manage Newsletters. California judge blocks Newsom from enforcing lockdown order on Catholic churches, Geraldo Rivera criticizes Rush Limbaugh for ‘reckless’ secession remark, Left out: Liberals mobilize against Biden as uneasy alliance unravels, College enrollment down from 2019 as interest lags amid pandemic. He specializes on the Arizona borderlands for the Wildlands Network. It's pushed that type of activity outside our city limits. Most of the wall isn't 'wall' at all. Contractors continue their work even though President-elect Joe Biden has said there won't be another foot of wall constructed in his administration. Heavy equipment is clearing a path for the border wall next to Coronado National Forest in Southern Arizona. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees the massive $15 billion project, says it will not speculate on actions the incoming administration "may or may not take.". New episode NOW AVAILABLE! “The U.S. government would save about $2.6 billion if President-elect Joe Biden halts construction on the border wall project on his first day in office,” the Washington Post reports. Contractors are building access roads and retaining walls in this protected wilderness in Arizona's Coronado National Memorial to erect President Trump's border barrier. Trump hypes 'wild' protest scheduled for day Congress counts electoral votes. By CAITLIN OPRYSKO. Quiz: Who said these famous quotes in history? ", Dynamite raises clouds of dust above Guadalupe Canyon, near the New Mexico-Arizona border. Two endangered cats — the ocelot and the jaguar — crisscross the international boundary looking for water and prey. John Kurc AOC is right: Democrats need new leadership, When it comes to being a flaming disaster, Biden is an expert, Not so fast on rejoining a badly flawed Iran deal, Mr. Biden. Mr. Biden could then face the choice of having to defend the Trump construction, or else tear down hundreds of miles of barriers along the same footprint he voted for in 2006.The Biden transition team didn’t respond to an inquiry from The Washington Times on Monday. Concrete culverts across creekbeds on the ground complete wilderness areas. `` 're trying to do as much they... 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