WASHINGTON — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday bypassed environmental regulations to speed up the construction of about 2.5 miles of new border barrier between Mexico and California.
Securing the southern U.S. border is one of the Trump administration’s top priorities, and this is the first waiver of environmental laws for the border wall of Trump’s second term.
A DHS news release said those laws, which require federal agencies to assess to assess whether their proposed actions will negatively affect the land, “can stall vital projects for months or even years.”
The waiver, published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, covers projects near Jacumba Hot Springs, about 70 miles east of San Diego, that were funded through U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s fiscal year 2020 and 2021 budgets.
Last April, San Diego became the top region along the border for migrant arrivals for the first time in decades. Arrivals began to sharply drop last year after Mexican authorities increased enforcement and former President Biden restricted access to asylum in June.
There has been a 70% decrease in migrant arrests so far this fiscal year, compared to the same period last year, according to Border Patrol.
In issuing the waiver, Noem cited the high crossings last year in San Diego area.
“There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct additional physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States,” Noem wrote in the register notice.
The advocacy group Earthjustice blasted the move, noting that such waivers were issued numerous times during the first Trump administration and that the announcement comes days after the Senate approved a budget resolution that seeks to allocate billions of taxpayer dollars toward border wall construction.
“Waiving environmental, cultural preservation, and good governance laws that protect clean air and clean water, safeguard precious cultural resources, and preserve vibrant ecosystems and biodiversity will only cause further harm to border communities and ecosystems,” Cameron Walkup, an Earthjustice associate legislative representative, wrote in a statement.
U.S. Border Patrol Deputy Chief David BeMiller said Tuesday that more than 50 miles of permanent and temporary sections of the wall have been constructed since Trump was inaugurated Jan. 20. The goal is to complete about 1,400 miles of uninterrupted border barrier.
In 2023, the Biden administration faced criticism from fellow Democrats and environmental activists for waiving 26 federal laws to allow 20 miles of border wall construction in south Texas.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
