TUCSON, AZ– Today, the Wall Street Journal reports that the Trump administration issued a request for $18 billion from Congress to construct a border wall along the Southwest American border despite campaign touts that the Mexican government would fund the wall. The money would be allocated for 700 additional and replacement miles of border wall and ultimately be funded by American taxpayers.

In response, Dan Millis of the Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter Borderlands Program, issued the following statement:

“Walls don’t secure the border, they are a threat to the security and safety of Americans who live nearby. Walls cause flooding, cut off migration routes for endangered species, and fragment public lands and communities.

“Using taxpayer dollars for this massive downpayment on more border wall will inflict severe harm on borderlands communities, the U.S. economy and the natural environment of the Southwest United States. This is on top of the $1.6 billion that the U.S. House wants to waste on new walls in Texas and replacement walls in California.

“Americans are counting on their elected representatives, especially those representing border communities, to speak out against Trump’s $18 billion border wall mistake.”