Environmental laws waived to build border wall in Texas wildlife refuge

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

---

The Department of Homeland Security announced on Tuesday that Secretary Kristi Noem has waived the protections of the Endangered Species Act and other federal statutes to “ensure the expeditious construction” of the border wall through the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Texas.

Funds were appropriated for border wall construction in the Rio Grande Valley during the first Trump administration. Now, the administration is eyeing this biodiverse area in Starr County for its next stage of border fortification.

By the time the refuge was established in 1979, the Rio Grande Valley had already lost most of its native habitat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pieced together property to protect biodiversity and create a wildlife corridor along the Rio Grande.

Endangered ocelots are being reintroduced in the scrub thorn landscape of Starr County. Other notable species in the area include green jays and the chachalaca, a tropical bird known for its distinctive call.

Following Noem’s waivers, the federal government will no longer have to follow the National Environmental Protection Act, the Clean Water Act, the Migratory Bird Conservation Act and other seminal federal laws to construct the border wall on 13 tracts in the national wildlife refuge.

The Secure Fence Act of 2006 granted the Department of Homeland Security the authority to waive federal laws to expedite border wall construction. Both Democratic and Republican administrations have used these waivers. In June, DHS issued waivers for 36 miles of border wall construction in Arizona and New Mexico.

Conservation advocates said that there is no national security justification for building a wall through the national wildlife refuge. They warn that the wall will threaten wildlife and cut off communities from the Rio Grande.

“The government owns this land for the sake of conservation,” said Laiken Jordahl, a Southwest conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “But this administration is willing to pick those places to be the first to destroy. It’s just incredibly cruel.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for further comment. In addition to environmental laws, the Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act, the National Trails System Act and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act will be waived.

Federal land targeted for border wall

Congress appropriated funds for the border wall in the Rio Grande Valley in 2019. Now the second Trump administration is picking up where it left off, targeting federal land in the wildlife refuge for border wall construction to avoid the lengthy process encountered by the first Trump administration for condemning private property in the Rio Grande Valley.

Many landowners have fought back, significantly slowing down construction. Texas is also building its own border wall but has made little progress. The Department of Homeland Security under President Joe Biden invoked waivers to continue construction in Starr County in 2023.

Noem authorized the waivers in the Federal Register, stating that the Rio Grande Valley is “an area of high illegal entry.” The order states that between fiscal years 2021 and 2025, over 1.5 million undocumented immigrants were apprehended in Custom and Border Protection’s Rio Grande Valley sector.

“Since the President took office, DHS has delivered the most secure border in history,” the order states. “More can and must be done.”

The authorization does not reference any specific information about apprehensions in the national wildlife refuge tracts. The number of migrant apprehensions has plummeted since Trump took office. CBP reported fewer than 1,000 monthly migrant encounters in the Rio Grande Valley sector in June and July this year. The sector spans more than 34,000 square miles.

“There is no possible way that someone could argue that there is an emergency at the border that necessitates waiving our nation’s most important environmental laws,” CBD’s Jordahl said.

Scott Nicol, an artist and activist in the Rio Grande Valley, said that the Trump administration is targeting federal lands for border wall construction because it’s “easier” than seizing private property.

“If you’re tasked with doing this tremendously environmentally destructive project, the waivers make it easy,” Nicol said. “The big thing slowing them down is they can’t waive property rights so they have to go through condemnation.”

Nicol said he has spent significant time in the parts of the wildlife refuge targeted for the wall and has rarely seen border crossers or Border Patrol agents. He said that border wall construction is a “spectacle” and that there is no “particular tactical reason” to target the national wildlife refuge.

The area targeted for construction falls within the Rio Grande floodplain. A 1970 treaty between the U.S. and Mexico commits both countries to ensuring that construction along the Rio Grande does not obstruct the river or the flow of flood waters. Mexican agencies have previously objected to border wall plans under the treaty terms.

Nicol was dubious that U.S. federal agencies would adequately integrate flood risks into their construction plans.

“They’re not going to worry about it until they have a big flood,” he said.

The International Boundary and Water Commission reviews construction along the border, including flood risk.

“The IBWC fully supports President Trump’s and DHS actions to secure the border for all Americans,” said spokesperson Frank Fisher. “IBWC and DHS have an excellent cooperative relationship that allows the IBWC to carry out all its responsibilities.”

This story is published in partnership with Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here.

---

More all-star speakers confirmed for The Texas Tribune Festival, Nov. 13–15! This year’s lineup just got even more exciting with the addition of State Rep. Caroline Fairly, R-Amarillo; former United States Attorney General Eric Holder; Abby Phillip, anchor of “CNN NewsNight”; Aaron Reitz, 2026 Republican candidate for Texas Attorney General; and State Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin. Get your tickets today!

TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.