Tucson City Council Votes to Oppose Trump's Border Wall, Militarization

TUCSON, Ariz., June 6, 2017 — The Tucson City Council voted unanimously tonight to oppose President Trump’s proposed border wall and prevent the city from doing business with companies that agree to work on the wall.

The resolution rejects Trump’s Jan. 25 executive order and increased militarization of the border region, and it calls for a comprehensive review of border security policy. The resolution also calls for the identification of contractors who work on the border wall so the city can avoid doing business with them.

“We’re pleased and grateful that our local elected leaders have denounced Trump’s destructive border plans,” said Randy Serraglio, conservation advocate with the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity. “Let the message ring out ― don’t destroy our beautiful border region and terrorize its people in our name.”

The resolution lists many reasons to oppose the border wall and militarization. These include thousands of migrant deaths and civil- and human-rights abuses caused by existing border policy, as well as widespread harm to border environments and wildlife, including many species protected under the Endangered Species Act.

“The border wall divides and harms people and wildlife alike,” said Serraglio. “There’s no reason to sacrifice jaguars, ocelots, Mexican wolves and other rare and precious animals to feed a delusion of border security. Border walls and militarization have done a lot of damage already, and nothing good for the cause of immigration reform.”

The resolution also cites the opposition of Tohono O’odham tribal leaders to the border wall, which would destroy sacred sites and impede cross-border movements for traditional and ceremonial purposes. The tribe’s reservation includes 75 miles of the border, and the Tohono O’odham live on both sides. Both U.S. and Mexican tribal leaders have formally opposed the border wall and militarization.

“Trump’s proposal to wall off the U.S.-Mexico border is driven by bigotry, fear-mongering and a cynically distorted image of the borderlands,” said Serraglio. “This paranoid vision doesn’t reflect the reality of border communities, which are among the safest in the country.”

The Pima County Board of Supervisors passed a similar resolution at its meeting earlier today.
Tucson Vice Mayor Regina Romero, who was instrumental in the resolution’s passage, said the resolutions presented a “unified front” that showed southern Arizona’s disapproval of Trump’s border wall. She said the ban on border wall contractors was “the teeth to this resolution.”

“This is a message that is going to be heard, whether they like it or not, in D.C. and with the Trump administration and with our congressional delegation,” said Romero, the director of Latino engagement for the Center. “So they will know exactly where the people or southern Arizona stand and that we stand solidly against further construction and militarization of the border wall.”


The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.3 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2017/border-wall-06-06-2017b.php

Center for Biological Diversity
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/