Trump’s Border Wall Faces New Lawsuit Warning of Threat to Jaguars
Trump’s Border Wall Faces New Lawsuit Warning of Threat to Jaguars
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump’s planned border wall with Mexico will destroy the endangered jaguar population in the U.S. by cutting off a vital wildlife corridor in Arizona, three environmental groups said in a lawsuit challenging the government’s diversion of defense money for the project.
Filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington, the suit by groups including the Center for Biological Diversity says the administration illegally bypassed Congress when Trump tapped money earmarked for weapons systems and other military expenditures. The construction will also have devastating effects on the environment, according to the complaint.
The suit and several others filed across the country challenged Trump’s national emergency declaration that he said allowed him to access funding for his long-sought wall along the southern U.S. border. While the president has lost several rounds in other courts, Trump notched a win last July when the Supreme Court said he could use some military funds while the lawsuits were pending.
The administration diverted the funds after Trump’s request for $8.6 billion for wall construction was denied and $1.375 billion was approved instead. The money “will again be extensively used to construct border walls on protected federal lands providing essential habitat for threatened and endangered species, including remote and mountainous terrain within the Coronado National Forest, located in southeastern Arizona,” the new suit says.
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