Administration Doubles Down Moves to Militarize U.S.-Mexico Border

Washington, DC-- Last night, news broke that Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Ryan Zinke is sending additional officers to patrol the U.S.- Mexico border. According to The Hill, these U.S. Park Police officers “are traditionally tasked with policing NPS property around Washington, D.C., New York, and San Francisco.” This news follows Attorney General

Jeff Sessions’ aggressive and anti-immigrant comments in a recent interview. The move also comes after Zinke recently visited the border wall in Sasabe, AZ and falsely indicated the Tohono O’odham Nation’s support for the wall, despite strong opposition from the tribal government and O’odham community. The decision adds to the recent trend of border militarization being driven by this administration at the expense of people, taxpayer money, and the environment.

In response, Dan Millis of the Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter Borderlands Program released the following statement:

“The decision to send park police to the border is yet another example of Ryan Zinke misusing taxpayer funds and failing to carry out his duties as Secretary of the Interior. He’s wasting billions of taxpayer dollars and threatening border communities to promote this administration’s xenophobic agenda.

“Our parks need maintenance funding, improved accessibility, and staff-- not officers sent to harass and racially-profile people on our public lands.

“We will continue pushing against the cruel treatment of immigrants, militarization of our borderlands region, and boondoggle border wall.”