PHOENIX -- A federal attorney told a judge Tuesday that halting construction of a border fence and vehicle barriers along the San Pedro River actually would do more environmental harm than letting the project be completed.
In legal papers filed Tuesday in federal court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Page, who represents the Department of Homeland Security, said the work, which already has started, is needed to cut the flow of people crossing the border illegally. Gregory Page said in the just completed 12-month period there were more than 31,000 illegal entries -- and in excess of 19,000 apprehensions -- in the area where the river crosses the international border.
"Homeland Security has determined that delaying the completion of the San Pedro border fence would impair important border and related national security interests,'' Page wrote in his brief for U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle. Page wants the judge to throw out a lawsuit filed last week by Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club to delay further work while the legality of the government's action is debated.
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Page also said damage caused by border crossers, ranging from new trails that destroy cactus to human waste and fires, could actually harm the environment more than what Homeland Security is building. In fact, he said the request to halt work, if granted, might actually cause more damage than letting it be completed. He said the 60-foot wide easement already has been scraped and 80 percent of the new road already is completed.
