The Department of Homeland Security is waiving a host of environmental protection laws to build new border wall sections in Arizona.
A series of laws passed in the 1990s allow DHS to bypass federal laws like the National Environmental Policy Act and other assessment processings usually needed for construction on public land.
In a post on the Federal Register this week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says she’s using that authority to green-light wall construction in the U.S. Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector — a swath of Arizona and California that Noem says has seen high illegal entry between 2021 and this year.
Border arrests have plummeted in all sectors in recent months. Despite that, Noem says there’s an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the sector. The waivers come just after the agency announced some $4.5 billion in contracts to build a so-called smart wall.
Earlier this year, DHS also used the waiver authority to fast-track wall construction in southern Arizona’s San Rafael Valley.
Environmental groups sued to stop that project and contractors broke ground in September. A federal judge agreed to pause the lawsuit for now at the request of federal attorneys, who argued they can’t legally work during the government shutdown. Construction is ongoing.
