HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

Trump’s Border Wall Is Destroying Land, Livelihoods, and Butterflies in the Rio Grande

Views:1070
@ReasonVids

The National Butterfly Center is directly in the path of Donald Trump's planned border wall. It will be cut in two—and some of its property may be taken through eminent domain.

---------------

Subscribe to our YouTube channel:

http://youtube.com/reasontv Like us on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine/

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason

Subscribe to our podcast at iTunes: https://goo.gl/az3a7a

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.

----------------

"You may learn about eminent domain, but until you are in the crosshairs of the government, you don't understand how it really works," says Marianna Trevino-Wright, the director of the National Butterfly Center, a 100-acre private wildlife refuge located in Texas near the U.S. border with Mexico. "They invoke it, they take your land, and they do what they want."

The National Butterfly Center, or NABA, is directly in the path of Donald Trump's planned border wall. Part of the Rio Grande Valley Conservation Corridor, it's home to the largest concentration of butterflies in North America.

The border wall project is moving ahead in the Rio Grande Valley. In the 2018 omnibus spending bill, Congress authorized one component of the project, a 33-mile section of fencing running through the Valley. And the Department of Homeland Security is threatening to use eminent domain to seize the land.

The National Butterfly Center's land will be cut in two by the border wall—70 percent of the preserve will become contiguous with Mexico and difficult to access. The government is also planning to establish a "control zone" for monitoring illegal entrants, which will mean clearing up to 200 yards of vegetation, specifically planted to host butterflies, on the river side of the wall. That land could be taken through eminent domain.

"The border wall is doing what General Santa Anna couldn't do 150 years ago," says Trevino-Wright. "He couldn't push the border of Mexico north of the Rio Grande River, and that is what the border wall is doing."

Trevino-Wright says NABA's property rights are being trampled in other ways as well. Federal immigration law gives the agency the authority to search and patrol private property within 25 miles of the border without obtaining a warrant. "They drag tires, they have drones and helicopters, they have agents on foot, on bicycle, on dirt bike, on horse, on four-wheeler, in SUVs, on boat on our shores," she says. "Every kind of presence you can imagine."

The government doesn't have the authority to enter and alter private property in preparation for the border wall, but Trevino-Wright says that she encountered a group of government contractors on the Butterfly Center's property clearing foliage that had been planted to host butterflies. When she asked them what they were doing there, she was told a representative from U.S. Border Patrol would contact her. A few days later Manuel Padilla, who's the chief border patrol agent for the Rio Grande Valley, paid the Butterfly Center a visit.

"He showed up unannounced, in plain clothes, and his attache, and a uniformed border agent," says Trevino-Wright. Padilla presented plans for the border wall to Trevino-Wright, and according to her account, said the contractors would be back. This time he was accompanied by a "green uniformed presence."

NABA decided to take legal action, suing the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection on the grounds they have exceeded their authority.

"You know, private property is supposed to be for the owner and their enjoyment and use and purpose," Trevino-Wright says. "Well, we don't enjoy that here. Our land, according to Border Patrol, is theirs to do with as they please."

Video produced, shot, and edited by Mark McDaniel.

LOREN ELLIOTT/REUTERS/Newscom

JASON REED/REUTERS/Newscom

State Department/Newscom

Kelly West/TNS/Newscom

LOREN ELLIOTT/REUTERS/Newscom

Summer Days by Kai Engel is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.

Rate Sheet by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.

Thread of Clouds by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.

The Stone Mansion by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.

Two in the Back by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.

Sino de Cobre by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
border wall
,
immigration
,
donald trump
,
conservation
,
wildlife
,
butterfly
,
eminent domain
,
national butterfly center
,
marianna trevino-wright
,
rio grande valley
    Thumbnail for Jinx the Anarchist Sex Worker Goes to Washington7:41
    Jinx the Anarchist Sex Worker Goes to Washington
    ReasonVids
    1153 views
    Thumbnail for John Stossel on the Successes of Freedom in Education3:00
    John Stossel on the Successes of Freedom in Education
    ReasonVids
    900 views
    Thumbnail for Santa Monica Evicts Airbnb: The War on Homesharing6:27
    Santa Monica Evicts Airbnb: The War on Homesharing
    ReasonVids
    920 views
    Thumbnail for มวยมันส์สนั่นเมือง 15/10/2024 | True4U1:00
    มวยมันส์สนั่นเมือง 15/10/2024 | True4U
    invidious
    259 views
    Thumbnail for Give Us Cash or Lose Your Kids and Face Felony Charges: Don't Cops Have Better Things to Do?!2:20
    Give Us Cash or Lose Your Kids and Face Felony Charges: Don't Cops Have Better Things to Do?!
    ReasonVids
    1001 views
    Thumbnail for [풀영상] 뉴스광장 : 미·EU 관세 협상 시작…협상 진전 없어 - 2025년 4월 16일(수) / KBS | KBS News1:47:54
    [풀영상] 뉴스광장 : 미·EU 관세 협상 시작…협상 진전 없어 - 2025년 4월 16일(수) / KBS | KBS News
    invidious
    135 views
    Thumbnail for The Slutty ’Hot Vax’ Summer That Never Happened3:20
    The Slutty ’Hot Vax’ Summer That Never Happened
    ReasonVids
    982 views
    Thumbnail for Simple and efficient rain collector + irrigation system1:08
    Simple and efficient rain collector + irrigation system
    AOUisgay
    542 views
    Thumbnail for Oh America, how far you have fallen...1:15
    Oh America, how far you have fallen...
    bestofupgoat
    478 views
    Thumbnail for never has a candidate elicited so much fear1:30
    never has a candidate elicited so much fear
    bestofupgoat
    421 views
    Thumbnail for I have just erased everything. | Blinkin0:26
    I have just erased everything. | Blinkin
    invidious
    422 views
    Thumbnail for Vaccine causes... What? - Stargate SG1 Clip0:55
    Vaccine causes... What? - Stargate SG1 Clip
    Ivan
    3028 views
    Thumbnail for Thomas Sowell destroys Charlie rose on diversity propaganda.1:00
    Thomas Sowell destroys Charlie rose on diversity propaganda.
    bestofsaidit
    1165 views
    Thumbnail for [Super Mario Party Jamboree] TIME TO LOSE THE ONLY FRIENDS I HAVE! #gavisbettel #holotempus | Gavis Bettel Ch. HOLOSTARS-EN2:33:46
    [Super Mario Party Jamboree] TIME TO LOSE THE ONLY FRIENDS I HAVE! #gavisbettel #holotempus | Gavis Bettel Ch. HOLOSTARS-EN
    invidious
    148 views
    Thumbnail for Doom - E1M2: Nuclear Plant (Nightmare! 100% Secrets + Items) | decino4:57
    Doom - E1M2: Nuclear Plant (Nightmare! 100% Secrets + Items) | decino
    doom.topic
    752 views
    Thumbnail for Stossel: Mow Your Lawn or Lose Your House!4:22
    Stossel: Mow Your Lawn or Lose Your House!
    ReasonVids
    939 views
    Thumbnail for Coronavirus: 10 Public Safety Regulations Set Aside in the Name of Public Safety3:24
    Coronavirus: 10 Public Safety Regulations Set Aside in the Name of Public Safety
    ReasonVids
    1007 views
    Thumbnail for How Obama Revived the Freedom Movement: John J. Pitney, Jr. on the libertarian electorate6:48
    How Obama Revived the Freedom Movement: John J. Pitney, Jr. on the libertarian electorate
    ReasonVids
    1093 views
    Thumbnail for Sex First, Then Arrest Hooker? Don't Cops Have Better Things to Do?2:10
    Sex First, Then Arrest Hooker? Don't Cops Have Better Things to Do?
    ReasonVids
    947 views
    Thumbnail for Thorny devil0:36
    Thorny devil
    bestofupgoat
    180 views
    Thumbnail for "Kick In The Cunt" Jack Black | dsm1228800:56
    "Kick In The Cunt" Jack Black | dsm122880
    invidious
    395 views
    Thumbnail for DIWALI SPL GETUP LIVE | BEST GAMEPLAY ONLY | BGMI LIVE TAMIL #bgmitamil #bgmi #bgmilive | RAVEN SHARP YOUTUBE4:35:45
    DIWALI SPL GETUP LIVE | BEST GAMEPLAY ONLY | BGMI LIVE TAMIL #bgmitamil #bgmi #bgmilive | RAVEN SHARP YOUTUBE
    invidious
    161 views
    Thumbnail for Security Support in Debian | DefConf1:58:16
    Security Support in Debian | DefConf
    poasttv.topic
    647 views
    Thumbnail for Give this a watch. “I need to get closer to God” #christian #jesus #faith #forgiveness | R3alism0:55
    Give this a watch. “I need to get closer to God” #christian #jesus #faith #forgiveness | R3alism
    invidious
    145 views
    Thumbnail for Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman & The Decline of Racism & Violence in America2:01
    Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman & The Decline of Racism & Violence in America
    ReasonVids
    893 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
border wall
,
immigration
,
donald trump
,
conservation
,
wildlife
,
butterfly
,
eminent domain
,
national butterfly center
,
marianna trevino-wright
,
rio grande valley
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle