In the past days, a national emergency has been declared by our President Donald Trump in regards to border wall funding. Having a national emergency on our southern border with Mexico for border wall funding will be one of the worst investments as that amount of money could be used for beneficial things. We do need a border wall to help stop the big caravans from Venezuela and Honduras, but we do not need a new border wall along with military help as we have enough border patrol agents on duty.
A promised border wall that will be a concrete slab or steel slats our president Donald Trump who’s going to be spending around $6 Billion, money gotten from areas like Homeland Security ($1.375 billion), Treasury Department’s drug forfeiture fund ($600 million), Department of Defense’s drug interdiction program ($2.5 billion), Department of Defense’s military construction account ($3.6 billion). An amount that could help veterans who struggle as they don’t have for medical services, secured food and a stable house. According to Laura Parker from National Geography mentions Barack Obama’s declaration: “Show me a 50-foot wall, and I’ll show you a 51-foot ladder.” Our southern border wall were many people cross the border by creating ways where they could cross, it wouldn’t surprise me if people make a ladder to 51-foot ladder for the 50-foot wall.
In the southern part of the Rio Grande City, a border wall that will be made of concrete slab or steel slats has caused many protests as they want to expand the border wall. Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge a 2,088-acre sanctuary who was the first places to be announces to be part of the border wall and of the first to be protested as many people signed a petition to stop the destruction of Santa Ana. Rio Grande City residents who have a border wall on their backyard feel uncomfortable as they receive letters from the federal government then there’s resident who receive a letter from the federal government asking for a price to purchase their land so they could expand for the new border wall. According to a resident Garcia who is a lifelong Rio Grande Valley native “its 10 years since they built it, and to this day we haven’t been paid for anything as we were told they were supposedly going to pay for the property, the amount of land they took. This is about what is right or wrong, and a wall is not going to help anything. It’s not gonna work.”
A border wall that could make a big impact to the wildlife when it comes to adapting to climate change. As the temperatures rise and extreme weather a wall could prevent animals from successfully adapting. According to Aylin Woodward from Business Insider mentions less than 200 Mexican gray wolves remain in the wild in the US and Mexico. A wall separating the wolves in Mexico from their counterparts in the US could therefore be a deadly blow for the world’s most endangered wolf. Director Bryan Bird from Defender’s of Wildlife’s southwest program says, “Mexican gray wolves are in a race with extinction, and the clock is ticking.” It will be sad to not only see the Gray Wolves get extinct because they would not be the only animal kind to be extinct. In addition, two Stanford biologists Paul Ehrlich and Rodolfo Dirzo mentions that a human-made wall – can deter or prevent animals from finding mates, fresh water, and necessary food. Following National Wildlife Federation, Bruce Stein chief scientist says, “barriers like border wall can interfere with the ability of animals to meet their daily needs, make seasonal migrations or disperse to new areas.” A 50-foot border wall that will change the lifestyle of the animals when they go for daily need or seasonal migration can lead to an extinction of many animals as the wall interferes with their resources.
