DHS Delays Border Wall Challenged By Tucson Activists, Mostly

TUCSON, AZ — A 40-mile stretch of southern Arizona slated for bollard border wall construction will be left unaltered, for now. However, construction on a 2-mile stretch will start Aug. 19, three days earlier than originally planned, with construction on the remainder of the wall now scheduled for the beginning of October at the earliest. The delay is part of an opposition brief filed by the Trump administration Tuesday in response to Tucson’s Center for Biological Diversity’s July lawsuit and August injunction to halt border wall construction in the interests of protecting existing wildlife refuges.

The July lawsuit, which has two other plaintiffs, Defenders of Wildlife in Washington, D.C. and the Animal League Defense Fund in Cotati, California, alleges that the DHS had overstepped its jurisdiction in waiving dozens of wildlife protection laws to expedite border wall construction. The trio’s August 6 injunction was intended to halt border wall construction until after a judge ruled on the July lawsuit.

“The change in construction schedule just gives everybody a temporary sigh of relief,” the Center for Biological Diversity’s attorney Jean Su told the Phoenix New Times. But the reason the administration granted the delay is unknown. “We don’t know what happened,” adds Su.

The two-mile border wall section still slated to begin construction this month lies close to the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument’s Lukeville port. Border wall construction completion is slated for January 2021.

Read more at Phoenix New Times.