STARR COUNTY, Texas— The Trump administration today waived 31 environmental and public health laws to speed border wall construction through the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
The waivers clear the way for walls across 13 refuge tracts, slicing through wildlife corridors, endangered species habitat and communities.
“Trump is inventing a fake emergency to bulldoze and wall off some of the best remaining habitat for wildlife in South Texas,” said Laiken Jordahl at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Border crossings have plunged more than 90% over the last year but the administration is hell-bent on torching our nation’s most important environmental protections to build more destructive walls. This isn’t border security, it’s a reckless attack on South Texas’ culture, communities and irreplaceable wildlife.”
U.S. Border Patrol apprehended just 6,072 people nationwide in June 2025 — a more than 90% drop from the 87,606 apprehensions in June 2024. In the Rio Grande Valley, apprehensions fell to roughly 50 per day this year from more than 1,500 per day in December 2023.
The Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge harbors some of the country’s rarest species. New wall segments threaten endangered ocelots, aplomado falcons and hundreds of migratory birds such as green jays, Altamira orioles and plain chachalacas. Endangered plants like the Zapata bladderpod, Walker’s manioc and Texas ayenia are also at risk. These walls will fragment critical habitat, sever wildlife corridors and disrupt the Rio Grande’s natural flow.
“There’s a special cruelty in walling off national wildlife refuges that were created for conservation,” said Jordahl. “These lands exist to protect endangered species and connect fragmented habitat, not to be bulldozed for Trump’s wall.”
Beyond jeopardizing 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.
Today’s action seeks to waive the following laws:
- National Environmental Policy Act
- Endangered Species Act
- Clean Water Act
- Clean Air Act
- Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
- Safe Drinking Water Act
- National Historic Preservation Act
- Migratory Bird Treaty Act
- Migratory Bird Conservation Act
- Archaeological Resources Protection Act
- Paleontological Resources Preservation Act
- Federal Cave Resources Protection Act
- National Trails System Act
- Noise Control Act
- Solid Waste Disposal Act
- Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
- Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act
- Antiquities Act
- Historic Sites, Buildings, and Antiquities Act
- Eagle Protection Act
- Administrative Procedure Act
- Section 438 of Energy Independence and Security Act
- National Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956
- Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act
- Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
- Farmland Protection Policy Act
- National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act
- National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997
- Wild Horse and Burro Act
- Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899
- Coastal Zone Management Act
