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