Editor's note: The following news release was sent to NPT earlier today, March 3, 2008.
No Border Wall Coalition, No Wall - Big Bend Coalition and Reviva Collective announced today that they are joining together with other organizations nationwide in a call for a moratorium on the construction of walls along the U.S.-Mexico border. The groups claim that the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) border wall project is politically motivated, that it will have no impact on immigration or smuggling, and will do nothing to protect the U.S. from terrorism. Yet the wall could have devastating consequences for the environment, the economy, and the communities of the border region.
Last month, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff admitted that no potential terrorists had ever been apprehended on the southern border, and that he doesn’t “see any imminent threat of terrorists infiltrating from Mexico.” However, DHS has frequently referred to the imminent threat of “terrorists and terrorist weapons” crossing the southern border in order to justify the breakneck speed of border wall construction.
Citing the Border Patrol’s own statistics, they note that illegal crossing of the Texas border has decreased significantly between 2006 and 2007, including a 34% decrease in the Rio Grande Valley Sector and a 46% decrease in the Del Rio Sector. By contrast, the heavily fortified San Diego Sector, where a triple-layer wall divides the border, saw a 7% increase in illegal crossing, suggesting that walls are not a meaningful deterrent for undocumented crossers. Indeed, a June 2007 Congressional Research Service report concluded that the walls in San Diego had “no discernible impact” on the number of people entering the U.S. illegally. Border Patrol has also stated repeatedly that a wall only slows crossers down by a few minutes.
The groups are also calling for an immediate suspension and repeal of section 102 of the Real ID Act of 2005, which gives DHS Secretary Chertoff the power to waive all laws in order to build the border wall. Such power concentrated in the hands of an unelected official makes a mockery of democratic processes. Texas border resident Scott Nicol said of Chertoff’s waivers, “The only reason to waive the laws is because you intend to break them.”
In the hurricane-prone Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, as well as in Presidio, Texas, the border wall is planned to be constructed on or near the flood control levees. Yet, there have been no studies published that describe what impact the proposed wall would have on flooding or on the integrity of the levee system.
DHS has continued to operate under the false assumption that the harsh conditions of the desert are a deterrent for people seeking entry into the U.S. As DHS build walls in populated areas, desperation drives more people into remote desert areas where they are more likely to die from dehydration and exposure. The General Accounting Office found that as walls have gone up, the number of people who have died attempting to enter the U.S. doubled between 1995 and 2005. This is an ongoing humanitarian crisis that requires an immediate solution.
It is irresponsible to erect a permanent wall without full knowledge of what those consequences will be. DHS’s blind rush to draw lines on a map, heedless of the consequences on the ground, makes a moratorium on border wall construction imperative. Congress must take the time to evaluate the serious costs and impacts of the border wall and to determine whether it is in fact the best way to address the complex issues of immigration and national security.
