As the country faces a global pandemic, the Trump administration is ramping up construction of its border wall in the Southwest— at the detriment of wildlands, towns and health care workers who are facing limited resources in their hospitals and communities.
During the pandemic, new walls are going up in Arizona, New Mexico, California, and Texas.
The Trump administration continues transferring money from military accounts— even as the reauthorization process faces three ongoing legal challenges— to construct the wall. Most recently, the administration pulled funds from overseas projects to backfill domestic military construction projects it had previously raided to pay for construction. Border wall projects are now estimated to total over $15 billion USD.
While the administration continues funneling billions of dollars into construction, hospitals and frontline workers are still facing severely under-resourced working conditions. Healthcare workers, members of Congress and community groups are calling for an immediate halt on construction and shifting of border wall funds to COVID-19 response.
See footage of destruction happening in the Barry Goldwater Range and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona and construction photos from the Jacumba Wilderness in California. Projects in Arizona and California are currently slicing through Tribal land on the Quechan and Cocopah reservations, as well as many sacred sites important to the O’odham and other Native American Nations.
by Javier Sierra
You can contact Javier at [email protected]
Source: www.sierraclub.org
