‘We’re under the gun to stop construction…’
(Lionel Parrott, Liberty Headlines) Build the wall? Not if radical environmentalists have anything to do with it.
Following in the footsteps of a California case by the Sierra Club that had attempted to block the Trump administration’s construction efforts with a court injunction, several “conservation” groups have asked a judge to stop the replacement of 68 miles of vehicle barriers on the Arizona border.
According to the Associated Press, the request for a preliminary injunction was filed last Tuesday by three environmentalist groups.
“We’re under the gun to stop construction,” said Jean Su, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs.
Why are these environmentalist groups so opposed to replacing existing miles of wall? It’s because they’re in favor of open borders—for migrating animals.
They’re concerned that the bollards the Trump administration plans to install will prevent the “cross-border migration of wildlife.”
The groups argued that the replacement barriers would prevent the movement of bighorn sheep and the Sonoran pronghorn, which is endangered.
In addition to the high-profile California injunction, activists have filed similar suits in New Mexico and Texas.
While the New Mexico and Texas cases are still pending, the California lawsuit was thrown out after the judge ruled that the Trump administration did not overreach by waiving environmental reviews.
If the plaintiffs get their way and a preliminary injunction request is granted in the Arizona case, it will be a blow to Trump’s efforts to build the wall, his best-known promise. Border wall construction would be blocked in Arizona until a judge rules on the merits of the challenge.
It’s yet another potential setback for President Trump on this issue, after scoring a decisive victory at the U.S. Supreme Court two weeks ago, when it ruled the Trump administration would be able to use military funds to build sections of the wall.
Of course, that ruling is meaningless if it’s ultimately found that the free migration of Sonoran pronghorns is more important than securing the American border.
