Washington – Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem bypassed environmental regulations on Tuesday to speed up the construction of a new border barrier about 2.5 miles between Mexico and California.
Securing the southern border is one of the top priorities of the Trump administration, the first abandonment of Trump’s second term border wall environmental laws.
The Department of Homeland Security press release said the laws require federal agencies to assess whether their proposed actions will negatively affect land, “can put important projects into a state of months or even years.”
The exemption, released Tuesday in the Federal Gazette, covers projects near the Jacobs Province Hot Springs, about 70 miles east of San Diego, funded through the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2021 budgets.
Last April, San Diego became the top region for immigrants to arrive on the border for the first time in decades. Last year’s arrival began to decline sharply after Mexican authorities increased law enforcement, with former President Biden restricting access to asylum in June.
According to the Border Patrol, so far, migrant arrests have decreased by 70% so far in the fiscal year compared to the same period last year.
When the waiver was issued, Noem quoted a high-level crossing in the San Diego area last year.
“At present, there is a urgent need to build other physical barriers and roads near the U.S. border to prevent illegal entry into the U.S.,” Noim wrote in his registration notice.
Advocacy group EarthJustice exploded the move, noting that multiple such exemptions were issued during the first Trump administration, and the announcement comes days after the Senate approved a budget resolution that aims to allocate billions of dollars in taxpayers to the construction of the border wall.
“Good governance laws that protect clean air and clean water, protect valuable cultural resources, preserve vibrant ecosystems and biodiversity will only cause further harm to border communities and ecosystems,” EarthJustice Associate Associate Clialative.
U.S. Border Patrol Deputy Commissioner David Bemiller said Tuesday that more than 50 miles of permanent and temporary areas have been built since Trump started on January 20. The goal is to complete an uninterrupted border barrier of about 1,400 miles.
In 2023, the Biden administration faces criticism from fellow Democrats and environmentalists for abandoning 26 federal laws to allow 20-mile border wall construction in South Texas.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
