The Bush administration is bulldozing environmental laws to build a controversial fence designed to block illegal immigrants from crossing the Mexican border. To force through its construction, the secretary of homeland security, Michael Chertoff, waived 35 separate environmental protection laws last week using provisions of the . The act allows him to set aside laws that might interfere with the construction of physical barriers at US borders.
Segments of fence totalling 750 kilometres are to be completed this year and will pass through many sensitive environments. In southern Texas the fence will run along flood-control levees between 100 and 1500 metres from the Rio Grande, creating what critics call a 鈥渘o-man鈥檚 land鈥� between fence and river.
This section of the fence will cut through rich wildlife reserves, including the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in Alamo, the Sabal Palm Audubon Center and most of the Nature Conservancy鈥檚 Lennox Foundation Southmost Preserve near Brownsville. Other wild areas are threatened in New Mexico, Arizona and California.
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Chertoff has previously issued similar waivers when residents and conservation groups tried to block fence construction in other sensitive areas, including the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area in Arizona.
Opponents are not giving up. Defenders of Wildlife called Chertoff鈥檚 move 鈥渁 flagrant violation of the separation of powers principle that frames the US Constitution鈥� and joined with the Sierra Club to request a Supreme Court review.
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