PBS’s NOW program on the impact of the border wall on private property owners in South Texas--this show also gives good background on the origins and politics behind the wall
RESOURCES
BACKGROUND
High Country News story by Charles Bowden that details the immigration, economic and drug policy issues that surround the borderlands
Environment News Service story on the blanket waiver of environmental laws in April 2008
Congressional Research Service report, Border Security: Barriers along the U.S. International Border
WILDLIFE AND ECOSYSTEMS
Book: A Barrier to our Shared Environment, published 2007
Defenders of Wildlife web page on the borderlands contains a broad array of background on the implications of the border wall for wildlife
Newsweek article on the impact of the wall on wildlife
BioScience article on “The Environmental Impacts of a Border Fence” January 2007
Southwestern Association of Naturalists resolution on the border wall
Nature Conservancy article on the border wall’s impact on their property in South Texas, the Southmost Preserve, December 2008
CNN story on the impact of the wall on jaguars, May 2008
MSNBC story on the Department of Homeland Security’s assessment of the environmental impact of wall construction in South Texas, July 2008
CBS News story on monitoring and mitigation funding for the border wall’s environmental impacts
Brochure on wildlife and the border wall created by e-pic and Defenders of Wildlife
International League of Conservation Photographers Borderlands RAVE page
NBC TV news story about wildlife and the border wall
Outdoor Photographer story on wildlife and the border wall
Wend Magazine story about the border wall and wildlife
Defenders Magazine story about wildlife and the border wall
Society of Environmental Journalists story on the environmental impacts of the border wall
“I was at a workshop in Tucson and climbed a mountain near the Mexico border. You could look south over an open, parched landscape. I imagined what it would be like as an animal trying to find food and a mate and a place to rear its young. I could see where the border wall will reverse decades of conservation effort in the Southwest.”
Dr. Healy Hamilton, California Academy of Sciences
RULE OF LAW
Legal analysis by attorney Dinah Bear, former head of the Council on Environmental Quality
Defenders and Sierra Club lawsuit on border wall construction in the San Pedro River corridor
Newsweek story on the Real ID legal waiver
List of laws waived by the Department of Homeland Security in construction of 650 miles of border wall
IMPACT ON HUMAN COMMUNITIES
USA Today story about the impact of border wall construction on Texas communities, November 2006
New York Times story on the impact of the border wall on human communities, June 20, 2007
Washington Post story on conservation work of border residents and the impact of the border wall
Article on the death of more than 5,000 human migrants in the borderlands.
University of Texas Working Group analysis of human rights implications of border wall.
Nature Conservancy faces closure of Southmost Preserve, one of two remaining sabal palm groves left in the United States.
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) presided over a subcommittee meeting on the border wall in Spring 2008. Watch the committee hearing below and hear the viewpoints of local people.
FEDERAL POLICY
Sierra Club analysis of HR 2076 the Borderlands Security and Responsibility Act
On the Line report, which details the history of the border wall and border policy, and the impact on wildlife
COST OF WALL TO TAXPAYERS
Washington Post Article on the cost of the border wall versus its effectiveness, October 2006
Taxpayers for Common Sense analysis of the cost of border wall construction
Los Angeles Times story about a 3.5 mile stretch of wall that cost $57 million
Christian Science Monitor story about the multi-billion dollar cost of the border wall and some 3000 breaches that have occurred since construction
Nationally the US Border Patrol made 1.2 million apprehensions in 1992 and again in 2004, suggesting that the increased enforcement in the San Diego sector has had little impact on overall apprehensions.
Congressional Research Service Report, June 2007
