Border wall carves through the mountains at Tecate Peak, San Diego, CA/Tecate, Baja California
June 19, 2013
CONTACT: Maggie Kao, maggie.kao@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, Senator Ron Wyden (OR) filed an amendment (Amendment 1318) to the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform bill that would provide more flexibility for border security, save more than a billion dollars in taxpayer money, and reinstate the rule of law along the nation’s Southern border.
In response, Dan Millis of the Sierra Club Borderlands released the following statement:
“The Sierra Club applauds Senator Wyden for this important amendment to improve the Senate immigration reform bill by protecting borderlands communities, wildlife and habitat.
“This amendment will provide greater flexibility for the Department of Homeland Security and better value for taxpayers by eliminating a wasteful and restrictive requirement that spends $1.5 billion dollars on more of the same fences that have been failing our borderlands for years. There are already more than six hundred miles of border walls along the U.S.-Mexico border and we’ve learned that these barriers do not stop immigration – they only devastate wildlife and habitat while bisecting communities and costing taxpayers millions of dollars per mile.
“Senator Wyden’s amendment would also help restore the rule of law at the border by eliminating the expansion of a failed Bush-era policy allowing Border Patrol to operate above the law. 37 federal protection laws, including the Farmland Protection Act, Clean Air Act and Religious Freedom Restoration Act have already been waived along the border by the Bush Administration, and massive disturbance to cultural, historic and sacred sites and significant environmental damage has resulted.
“This amendment is a significant step forward in ensuring that our borderlands are protected, and the Sierra Club urges the Senate to support its critical provisions.”
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization with more than 2.1 million members and supporters nationwide. In addition to creating opportunities for people of all ages, levels and locations to have meaningful outdoor experiences, the Sierra Club works to safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying and litigation. For more information, visit http://www.sierraclub.org.
For more information about Sierra Club Borderlands, go to sierraclub.org/borderlands or follow @SC_Borderlands on Twitter.
