SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, AZ (AZFamily) — A new stretch of border wall is set to be built in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, with 27 miles planned through a remote and ecologically sensitive region.
The Department of Homeland Security has awarded Fisher Sand & Gravel, a North Dakota-based company, a $309 million contract to carry out the work. The project will cut through the San Rafael Valley, a biodiverse area in the Tucson Border Patrol Sector known for its grasslands and rare wildlife.
Critics argue the new stretch will further endanger fragile ecosystems and wildlife habitats.
“The Department of Homeland Security is racing to build a border wall in one of the last, best wildlife areas left in the Arizona borderlands,” said Russ McSpadden, with the Center for Biological Diversity. “This valley is really an irreplaceable lifeline for endangered species like jaguars and ocelots.”
McSpadden said he’s concerned about the company behind the project.
“Fisher Sand & Gravel is a company with a long record of environmental and regulatory violations,” he said.
During the Trump administration, the company received over $1 billion in federal contracts for border wall construction. In 2019, the U.S. government also sued Fisher over environmental violations tied to a privately built section of wall in Texas.
As part of his work documenting the borderlands to protect local ecosystems, McSpadden toured many areas where border wall construction took place during President Trump’s first term. He says what he saw showed a complete lack of care.
“I’m really concerned this is going to look just like that except across the San Rafael Valley,” McSpadden said.
Critics are also raising alarms about how the project is being fast-tracked. Records show that DHS is bypassing environmental review laws and using national security as justification to waive dozens of federal protections.
“It allows them to waive all these laws. It circumvents environmental laws that are designed to protect natural and cultural heritage places,” said McSpadden.
DHS, however, defends the move, citing high levels of illegal crossings and frequent drug and human smuggling in the area as the need for rapid construction.
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