Federal lawsuit filed: Border wall would block last jaguar migration paths

WASHINGTON — Conservation groups today sued the Trump administration for taking $7.2 billion from the Department of Defense for border wall construction without congressional approval. The planned barriers will wall off all remaining jaguar corridors along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Today’s lawsuit also challenges six waivers that sweep aside dozens of environmental and public health laws to fast-track wall construction in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., by the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife and the Animal Legal Defense Fund.


“Trump’s assault on the U.S. Constitution has reached new heights as he turns the borderlands into sacrifice zones,” said Brian Segee, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “He’s done an end-run around Congress and completely overstepped his authority to declare a so-called emergency. Meanwhile jaguars and other rare wildlife along the border are being pushed a step closer to extinction.”

In February the Trump administration announced 31 border wall projects totaling 177 miles using funds that Congress appropriated to the military for other purposes. The projects will largely wall off the remaining unfenced areas in California, Arizona and New Mexico, including key corridors for jaguars and ocelots.

“Construction of a wall that cuts through the heart of vitally protected refuges, forests and conservation areas will have devastating effects on wildlife, such as jaguars, Mexican gray wolves and ocelots, who call the border their home,” said Animal Legal Defense Fund Executive Director Stephen Wells. “Using national emergency powers to fund construction of a border wall is illegal and misguided, particularly when the nation is currently facing a real national emergency stemming from the type of outbreak that occurs from disrupting the natural world.”


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