Becuase of the fast paced news cycle, the best way to stay up to date with border wall is on our Facebook page; Lower Rio Grande Valley Sierra Club. We will be posting news, events, maps, etc. on the Facebook page.
For now, Santa Ana, the National Butterfly Center, and Bentsen State Park were spared. There is no guarentee that future appropiation bills will exclude those areas.
Borderwall construction started in the La Parida Tract of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge has pockets/segmented of land along the border and was not spared.
Further east, over 200 landowners were given eminent domain notices in Brownsville in July of 2017.
Concerns with the border wall include many issues:
- environmental impact
- accessability to our wildlife refuges and natural resouces
- flooding
- cost
- eminent domain / land consfication
- waiving of laws to construct
- relations with Mexico
- ineffectiveness of physical barriers
- affects to economy in the Rio Grande Valley
- divides family, friends, and communities
- increased militarization of our region
The people of the Rio Grande Valley want more effective solutions to immigration reform that include, but not limited to, bi-national community development and pathways to citizenship that address the root causes of border problems while keeping intact our bi national communities rich in culture and heritage. Response to the wall has been swift and strong. In the Rio Grande Valley, 17 cities have passed resolutions opposing the border wall; Alamo, Alton, Brownsville, Edinburg, Harlingen, La Joya, Laguna Vista, Los Fresnos, McAllen, Mercedes, Mission, Palm View, Pharr, Port Isabel, San Juan, Sullivan City, Weslaco. 3 Counties have passed resolutions opposing the border wall; Cameron, Hidalgo, Pharr.
Resources for information regarding the border wall:
Friends of the Wildlife Corridor
National Wildlife Refuge Association
Embattled Borderlands (story map)
