Press Releases

January 31, 2019

Albuquerque, NM -- Today, New Mexico Senators Heinrich and Udall introduced a three-bill package addressing environmental and community concerns related to the border wall. Included in the legislation aimed to protect wildlife, Native American sites and people, one bill would amend the Real ID Act to prohibit the federal government’s ability to waive environmental, health and safety laws to build more border wall.

January 10, 2019

McAllen, TX-- Today, Donald Trump visited the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas to push for billions of dollars in border wall funding that has caused an ongoing, three-week government shutdown. McAllen, listed as one of the safest towns in the country by the FBI, has been the epicenter of the administration-caused humanitarian crisis on the border.

January 9, 2019

McAllen, TX-- Tomorrow, President Trump will visit the Rio Grande Valley to push his agenda for a border wall and increased militarization. The Trump administration has already received $1.6 billion for 84 miles of wall construction in South Texas, has waived 38 laws in the process, and is moving forward with building a destructive wall through sensitive wildlife refuges and a historic chapel, despite strong opposition from the local community.

January 8, 2019

Washington, DC-- Tonight, Donald Trump will invoke a self-described ‘crisis’ on the U.S. southern border. Trump has yet to stop demanding billions of dollars to fund a border wall, which has resulted in a nearly three-week government shutdown that has left thousands of federal employees, including border patrol officials, without a paycheck and out of work. In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune released the following statement:

December 11, 2018

Washington, DC-- Today, in a 17-minute exchange with Democratic leadership at the Oval Office, President Trump said he’d be “proud” to shut down the government if he fails to get billions of dollars for his border wall. This is the latest in a long series of episodes in which the Trump Administration recklessly and dangerously attempts to push the border wall boondoggle. In the past 24 hours, the Trump administration has manufactured yet another unnecessary and facetious drama about border security.

December 10, 2018

MISSION, TX-- On Friday, the Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC) filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to challenge its use of unlawful waivers to expedite border wall construction in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas.

December 6, 2018

New York, NY-- On Saturday, December 8th from coast-to-coast, crowds will join events to oppose Trump’s border wall and militarization efforts, including recent atrocities committed at the border against asylum seekers and billions of dollars requested for additional border wall and militarization by the President and Congress. NEW YORK/ #BreakDownWalls Event

December 6, 2018

Washington, DC— More than 500 geographically and ideologically diverse organizations joined a coalition to oppose President Trump’s border wall and militarization efforts. The groups reject new miles of wall planned under the Trump administration, including a 20-mile section just west of El Paso and concrete walls that have been contracted out at more than $20 million per mile for the Rio Grande in South Texas.

October 9, 2018

Washington, D.C. -- Today, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that it will waive environmental laws in order to construct gates between sections of border barriers in South Texas' Rio Grande Valley.

June 19, 2018

Mission, TX-- Today, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security passed an appropriations bill that includes $1.6 billion for border walls and increased funding for Border Patrol. If passed through Congress, the appropriations legislation fully funds 65 miles of additional border wall in Rio Grande Valley-- walling off the entire 150-mile valley from their river  (except the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge where prohibition on construction is upheld).