Environmental groups warn that a new segment of border fence the Trump administration is building in Arizona will destroy recovery efforts for the jaguar species that travels between the U.S. and Mexico.
The Homeland Security Department waived a slew of environmental laws to rush through a series of border fence projects this week. Plans are to build dozens of miles of border fence from San Diego to Del Rio, Texas. In the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, those plans include about 12 miles of rugged mountain terrain.
The Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups that has sued the administration over its fence projects, says the new barriers will block areas where the jaguar is still able to cross.
Homeland Security says the Tucson Sector in general has high numbers of illegal entries and drugs but offered no specifics for the areas where the new fence will be built.
