Congress has passed legislation that mandates construction of a fence on the U.S.-Mexico border, and it has granted Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff the authority to waive all environmental laws to build the fence.
A 6.9-mile section of the barrier will cut across Arizona's San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, which includes the San Pedro River and hosts a diverse assortment of flora and fauna while providing an important bird migration flyway.
Despite the power granted to Chertoff, the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife filed a lawsuit to delay construction of the fence, saying the federal government neglected to adequately study the fence's potential effects on the environment.
In an Oct. 10 ruling, U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle delayed construction for 10 days to allow Chertoff time to reconsider the project's schedule because, she said, the federal government's three-week environmental assessment was not adequate time to sufficiently study the fence's potential effect.
Huvelle acknowledged that Chertoff could "trump" her decision and build the fence anyway because the law gives him "all the power" to do so. But the judge also said it seemed the government was trying to "ram" through the construction "before anyone would wake up," the Associated Press reported this month.
On Monday, Chertoff played his trump card and moved forward with the project, running roughshod over a delicate riparian landscape that includes one of the Southwest's last free-flowing rivers.
We have always said a key component of thoughtful immigration reform is to secure our nation's borders. But to move forward with this dubious fence with such vulgar disregard for an environmentally sensitive federal conservation area is appalling.
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