President Biden has pledged that there will “not be another foot” of the Trump border wall built. But his first weeks in office demand more than stopping construction of the towering barricade that has fueled humanitarian crises and ravaged the desert environment.
Migration is as old as our species. The need to migrate transcends political boundaries, which reflect only the aftermath of the last invasion. It transcends war and other conflicts. And it transcends borders that do not reflect the intricate web of life, families, communities, and human populations.
Border communities and environmentalists are urging Joe Biden to take immediate steps to remediate the environmental and cultural destruction caused by construction of the border wall during the previous administration.
When Lisa Manuel was a child, her mother would take her to Quitobaquito Springs, a rare oasis amid the giant cacti and rolling hills of southwest Arizona’s Sonoran Desert.
On October 5, 2020 investigative reporter Tim Steller for the Arizona Daily Star uncovered the Trump administration’s cover-up used to initiate, implement, allegedly cancel, and then continue separating children from their parents even while under court order to find and unite them.