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Government grants multiple contracts to start border wall projects in Texas

Wildlife and religious sites are currently in path of the future levee wall.

MISSION, Texas — Border wall projects now have a start date and contracts are being issued to construction companies set to build it.

While technically not President Trump’s border wall, it is a continuation of fencing, levees and other barriers aimed at closing gaps along the border.

But it also means important natural and religious sites will end up in no man’s land.

The National Butterfly Center, a 100-acre property that extends to the edge of the Rio Grande now sits in the path of a border wall.

Seattle resident Paula Crockett and a handful of bird watchers enjoy visiting the wildlife center to spot rare species of animals.

“It makes me unhappy and very angry,” Crocket said.

Crockett often voices her opposition. She supports a border security plan, but one that takes her concerns into account.

“Wildlife doesn’t know borders, they know habitat,” she added.

On Nov. 2, CBP announced a construction contract to SLSCo, Ltd. for six miles of levee wall, with bollard fencing along the current levee road that divides the butterfly center. On Thursday the agency announced another eight miles on the east side of Hidalgo County, for a total project cost of $312 million.

“Once they come in with the bulldozers, all of this will be gone,” said NBC Director Marianna Trevino-Wright.

Trevino-Wright has been fighting the wall project for nearly two years, and has invested approximately $10 million on the property in a 16-year span, she said.

“We’re going to lose 70 percent of our land,” she noted. “And they’re going to excavate this earth, and levee and clear all of the vegetation for a minimum 150-foot enforcement zone.”

The government has waived 28 environmental laws in the process, a decision Trevino-Wright says puts hundreds of animal species at risk.

“There is nothing in any current lawsuit that we have faith will stop the seizure of the land,” Trevino-Wright said.

The wall project will affect other wildlife refuges and residential areas. It will also leave the historical 150-year-old chapel La Lomita between a wall and the border.

The Catholic Church is seeking a restraining order on the government, citing infringement on their religious freedom. The government in return is offering $100 for 65 acres.

At this point there’s no stopping the project, which is set to break ground in February.

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