When Ben Bergquam tells Americans that the Biden administration is lying about the US Southern Border not being open, he is right, and here is proof from the mouth of a ‘Wildlife activist who has been pressing the US Government to open up the border amind a border invasion crisis.
AZPM reported on the details of an area on the border that is now officially open:
“DHS agrees to stop border wall construction, fund environmental remediation projects. A settlement agreement estimates $1.62 billion in funding and nearly $430 million returned to DOD projects.”
The outlet went on:
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has agreed to stop further border wall construction and address environmental damage in response to litigation challenging the illegal transfer of military construction funds.
Under a legal settlement filed in a federal court on Monday, July 17, the Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC) represented by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (ACLU) and others, settled two-long standing lawsuits that challenged the Trump Administration’s transfer of Defense and Treasury Department funds, to build parts of the border wall in fiscal years 2019 and 2020.
The lawsuits argued that the action was beyond legal power and in violation of the United States Code, the National Environmental Policy Act and several other statutes.
It also settles relevant cases in California, New Mexico and other states.
Check out this tweet from Laiken Jordahl, who posted about an update from the US Department of Homeland Security:
My Herald Review reported on this area and the plans for a border security fence in 2019:
“We all breathed a sigh of relief,” said Jean Su, attorney for the Center of Biological Diversity, Wednesday as word from the federal government indicated a postponement on the construction of a border wall across three environmentally sensitive areas in Arizona for 45 days.
The San Pedro River at the border was one of the sites postponed, she said. There, a 0.3–mile portion of the river was slated to have a 30-foot high wall installed and a bridge built over the San Pedro River.
According to Laiken Jordahl, borderlands campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity, the designs and contracts for the project have not been finalized for the river project. However, DHS plans to conduct geotechnical surveys in and around the riverbed in mid–to–late September. “That will be a prerequisite to finalization of the contract and designs.”
Jordahl continued, “Any delay in border wall construction is good news for Arizona’s treasured public lands and wildlife. Places like the San Pedro River and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument are just too special to lose, especially to an ineffective and unnecessary wall. We’ll continue to fight for border communities and wildlife with everything we’ve got.”
Court documents show the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would limit activity along the San Pedro River “to a 60–foot area adjoining the border, already disturbed from existing fencing and the adjoining road used by U.S. Border Patrol for enforcement purposes. In addition to that 60–foot area, DHS is designating certain staging areas for construction vehicles and materials.”
Jordahl said the plans for building the wall at the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge have also been suspended for 45 days.
The DHS had planned to begin construction on Aug. 22 at those sites.
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“In other words, we just got ourselves a de facto 45–day injunction,” said Jordahl.
The battle over the wall has been ongoing for months. When the Trump Administration decided to use non-Congressionally approved funds to build a pedestrian wall along the border with Mexico at certain places in Arizona, Texas and New Mexico, necessary to stop illegal human and drug trafficking.
Conservation groups joined forces to stop the plan from moving forward.”
And he had a victory after all: