TUCSON, Ariz.— Staff from the Center for Biological Diversity documented Monday that construction has begun on a new segment of border wall through the San Rafael Valley in Arizona’s Sky Island region. This biodiversity hotspot includes the most significant wildlife corridor remaining along the Arizona-Mexico border.

“I felt sick seeing the first 250 feet of this catastrophic wall rip through the San Rafael Valley,” said Russ McSpadden at the Center. “This is cruel political theater straight out of the Trump playbook, but with very real consequences. It’s an ecological disaster in the making that will cut off the country’s most important jaguar corridor.”

The planned 27-mile border wall would block migration for dozens of imperiled species who roam freely between Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora to find mates, prey and safety, according to a recent Center report. Affected species include federally endangered jaguars and ocelots, as well as black bears, pronghorns and mountain lions.

In July the Center sued the Trump administration for waiving the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and other laws that protect clean air, clean water, public lands, wildlife and communities in the borderlands. The lawsuit says the waiver authority is an unconstitutional delegation of power.

In addition to a 30-foot-tall steel bollard wall, the waivers also allow bulldozing roads and installing surveillance equipment, lighting and other infrastructure — all without environmental review. The wall and its infrastructure would cut across the Arizona National Scenic Trail near the Coronado National Memorial and twice cross the Santa Cruz River.

To build the wall, contractors have also drilled at least two wells. On Monday staff from the Center witnessed water gushing from the new wells. At the height of border wall construction during the first Trump administration, groundwater pumping extracted as much as 700,000 gallons of water a day. Spring systems were destroyed, and water tables were drastically depleted.

The San Rafael Valley is within known jaguar habitat. In recent years wild jaguars have been spotted on remote cameras moving through the San Rafael Valley. The closure of that route could lead jaguars to disappear completely from the United States.

“The Trump administration is gutting our nation’s most fundamental environmental laws and trampling the Constitution to build this terrible border wall,” said Jean Su, a senior attorney at the Center. “It’s a reckless power grab that will permanently scar one of North America’s most biodiverse regions. “We’ll do everything we can to stop this abuse of power and protect the Sky Islands and the wildlife that call it home.”

In addition to jaguars, dozens of rare wildlife species make their home in this remote region, including ocelots and pronghorns and hundreds of species of migratory birds and butterflies. There is no evidence of frequent human migration in the area.

Fisher Sand and Gravel won the $334 million border-wall contract.

Beyond harming wildlife, endangered species and public lands, the U.S.-Mexico border wall is part of a larger strategy of ongoing border militarization that damages human rights, civil liberties, native lands, local businesses and international relations. The border wall impedes the natural migrations of people and wildlife that are essential to healthy diversity.