Letter: Oppose Border Wall and Remediate Harms from Construction

Dear The Honorable Patrick Leahy, The Honorable Chris Murphy, The Honorable Rosa L. DeLauro, The Honorable Lucille Roybal-Allard, The Honorable Richard Shelby, The Honorable Shelley Moore Capito, The Honorable Kay Granger, The Honorable Chuck Fleischmann:

On behalf of the undersigned organizations dedicated to environmental protection, civil and human rights, and community uplift, including groups that have witnessed first-hand the devastating impacts of border wall construction on border communities and the environment, we write to thank you for including language to rescind past border wall funding and to provide resources and direction to mitigate damage from border wall construction in both the House and Senate FY 2022 Homeland Security appropriations bills. We commend both chambers for recognizing the importance of addressing the profound harms from border wall construction and urge you to adopt the most robust provisions in the final FY 2022 Homeland Security appropriations bill. The prior administration’s insistence on unnecessary, wasteful, and harmful border wall construction wreaked destruction on the borderlands and the millions who call the border region home, including damaging lands sacred to the O’odham, Carrizo-Comecrudo, and Kumeyaay peoples; desecrating Native American burial sites; dynamiting pristine mountain wilderness; erecting walls in floodplains; separating imperiled wildlife populations; destroying fragile resources in national wildlife refuges, forests, monuments and other public lands; depleting ancient water sources in sensitive desert ecosystems; seizing ranches, farms, and backyards from families; risking lives by forcing migrants to cross into more remote regions; and fomenting dangerous racial hatred against migrants and Indigenous peoples.

To expedite wall construction, the previous Secretary of Homeland Security waived eighty-four cornerstone federal laws, along with countless state and other laws and regulations (without even actually identifying them), created to protect the environment, wildlife, religious freedom, historic and cultural sites, and taxpayers’ interest in responsible procurement.

We recognize that the Biden Administration has taken an important step in cancelling border wall projects slated for construction using funds that the previous administration had diverted from the Pentagon’s budget. But simply halting the construction of the border wall, while important, is insufficient. Congress must rescind any remaining funding for construction of the border wall and related infrastructure and provide the resources necessary to restore and repair border communities and lands to mitigate the harms done.

We appreciate that both House and Senate FY 2022 Homeland Security appropriations bills have begun to take these needed steps and urge Congress to include the following provisions in the final FY 2022 bill:

• Rescind any remaining and all previously appropriated funding for the construction of border wall, border barriers, and related infrastructure as included in both House and Senate bills. Unless and until this happens, more walls will be built even under this administration. Indeed, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues to file eminent domain actions in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas in anticipation of construction if outstanding funds remain
• Both House and Senate bills include statutory language authorizing the transfer of funding from DHS to the land management agencies to begin mitigation activities, including land acquisition, for damage from border wall construction on federal lands. The House bill authorized the transfer of up to $100 million, the Senate up to $50 million for these purposes. We support no less than the House level of $100 million as a first step for these crucial activities.
• The reports accompanying both House and Senate bills include strong language directing a multi-agency process to develop a remediation plan. While we greatly appreciate the recognition of the need for such direction by both House and Senate Appropriations Committees, we believe the House language would be more effective as it places the effort at the Secretarial level of both the Departments of Homeland Security and Interior with a more co-equal role for the Secretary of the Interior and also contemplates decommissioning of wall segments as part of the remediation plan.

The massive and needless damage to the border region and its people must be addressed as swiftly as possible. Again, we greatly appreciate the advancements in both House and Senate FY 2022 Homeland Security appropriations bills and urge the retention of the strongest possible funding levels and language.

Sincerely,

American Friends Service Committee 

Animal Welfare Institute 

Arizona Dream Act Coalition 

Arizona Trail Association 

Biodiversity for a Livable Climate 

Border Organizing Project 

Border Patrol Victims Network 

California Wilderness Coalition 

Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas 

Cascadia Wildlands 

Center for Biological Diversity 

Christian Council of Delmarva 

Church World Service 

Clean Water Action 

Coalicion de Derechos Humanos 

Coalition on Human Needs 

Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life 

Coalition to Protect America's National Parks 

Colorado Latino Forum 

Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim (CMPI) 

Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces 

Defenders of Wildlife 

Eagle Pass Border Coalition 

Earthjustice 

End Streamline Coalition 

Endangered Habitats League 

Endangered Species Coalition 

Environmental Protection Information Center- EPIC 

Faith in Public Life 

Forest Ecology Network 

Friends Committee on National Legislation 

Friends of Friendship Park 

Friends of the Earth 

Friends of the Sonoran Desert 

Friends of the Wildlife Corridor 

Frontera de Cristo 

Great Old Broads for Wilderness 

Green Art Labs 

GreenLatinos 

GreenLatinos Colorado 

Hispanic Access Foundation 

Hispanic Federation 

Howling For Wolves 

Humane Borders Inc. 

Immigrant Legal Resource Center 

Immigration Hub 

Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice 

International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute 

Just Futures Law 

League of Conservation Voters 

Living Rivers & Colorado Riverkeeper 

Madrean Archipelago Wildlife Center 

Mennonite Central Committee U.S. 

MomsRising 

National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd 

National Butterfly Center 

National Education Association 

National Immigrant Justice Center 

National Immigration Law Center 

National Parks Conservation Association 

National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies 

National Wildlife Refuge Association 

Natural Allies 

Natural Resources Defense Council 

New Mexico Wild 

Northern Jaguar Project 

Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides 

Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project 

NY4WHALES 

Ocean Conservation Research 

Oceanic Preservation Society 

Operation HomeCare, Inc. 

Paisanos Unidos 

Poder Latinx 

Population Connection 

RAICES 

Resource Renewal Institute 

RESTORE: The North Woods 

Rio Grande International Study Center 

San Xavier District, Tohono O'odham Nation 

SEIU United Service Workers West 

Sierra Club 

Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Justice Team 

Sky Island Alliance 

Southern Border Communities Coalition 

Southwest Environmental Center 

Texas Civil Rights Project 

The Wilderness Society 

Turtle Island Restoration Network 

UndocuBlack Network 

United We Dream 

Voces Unidas 

Washington Office on Latin America 

Western Nebraska Resources Council 

Western Watersheds Project 

Wild Arizona 

WildEarth Guardians 

Wildlands Network 

Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center 

Wyoming Untrapped