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Updated February 27th, 2020 at 11:03 IST

Explosives used to build US-Mexico border wall

US officials blasted through land Native Americans consider sacred to build part of President Donald Trump's wall along the US-Mexico border.

Explosives used to build US-Mexico border wall
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US officials blasted through land Native Americans consider sacred to build part of President Donald Trump's wall along the US-Mexico border. On Wednesday, the government carried out a new round of explosions near the southern border as a group of invited journalists watched.

Construction crews this month began blasting and bulldozing through hills to build a 30-foot (9-meter) steel wall 60 feet wide (18 meters wide) in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

Environmental groups also are decrying the work at the national parks system site that's named for its cactuses resembling organ pipes and is a largely untouched example of Sonoran Desert habitat.

The administration says archaeological monitors working with Customs and Border Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers have found no sign of burial or other sacred sites in the area.

Department of Homeland Security acting Secretary Chad F. Wolf told Congress on Tuesday that he plans to travel soon to meet with the tribe to discuss their concerns.

US Reps. Ruben Gallego and Raul Grijalva, both Arizona Democrats, also spoke against construction of the wall during the meeting of the House Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples.

The Tohono O’odham Nation stretches across southern Arizona and into Mexico.

US Rep. Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican, noted that Organ Pipe is a well-known human and drug smuggling corridor and site of the 2002 shooting death of Kris Eggle, a park ranger who died while while pursuing suspected drug cartel members.

Environmental advocates and elected officials are concerned about the wall's potential effects in Organ Pipe, including on water from an underground aquifer and migrating animals.

A desert oasis in the monument, Quitobaquito Springs, is home to the endangered Sonoyta mud turtle and Quitobaquito pupfish.

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Published February 27th, 2020 at 11:03 IST

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