Environmental Damage: Another Reason Why a Border Fence is a Bad Idea

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Ranchers like Mike Vickers, and others who make their living on the US-Mexico border, aren’t the only ones who think building a fence to keep out illegal immigrants is a dumb idea. Environmental groups working along the border and the National Park Service object to a fence on environmental grounds.
Where illegals routinely cross the border you find millions of tons of trash, erosion from thousands of illegally carved trails and roads, and habitat fragmentation, among other environmental effects. Building a fence doesn’t solve that problem; it just shifts it to another location as immigrants cross somewhere else. “We realize that the problems we are facing environmentally in this region are a direct effect of past border patrol strategy that have relied primarily on walls,” says an environmentalist in a new Mother Jones piece. Read it here.

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PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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