Federal agents in Southern Arizona arrested protesters on Tuesday who were trying to protect a towering grove of cottonwood trees along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The last tree came down Monday to make way for a 30-foot wall.
Federal agents, some of them masked, moved in early Monday morning and demanded the protest camp in the San Rafael Valley disperse, said activist Kate Scott.
Protestors screamed as workers ripped the towering cottonwood out of the ground.
“It was an explosive, horrific scene of cruelty,” Scott said.
Scott and others have been camping on private property near the base of the tree since June to protect four large cottonwoods that stood in the path of the new border wall.
Scott called them “grandmother” trees. Three others were torn out in July.
The trees’ canopy spread high above the grassland along a stretch of border east of Nogales, Ariz.
“They were over 150 years old, and they are a universe unto themselves, each one,” said Scott.
Congress approved $47 billion to build hundreds of miles of new wall in President Trump’s second term. In some places, a second 30-foot steel barrier is going up alongside an existing wall.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection recognizes the importance of protecting the environment, wildlife, and cultural resources during construction, an agency spokesperson said. A preconstruction survey showed no signs of migratory bird nests in the trees, according to the federal government’s statement.
Local border communities have complained that the federal government is rushing to build the wall and damaging the environment in the process. This summer, New Mexico officials said federal contractors illegally depleted the aquifer by drilling unpermitted wells for border construction.
Kate Scott said federal agents detained at least 10 people Monday at the protest camp, and several were injured during the confrontation. An activist at the site today said two more protesters were detained when construction resumed in the morning.
The CBP spokesperson did not comment on the arrests but did say that illegal immigration creates environmental hazards of its own.
“High volumes of unauthorized crossings often result in substantial amounts of trash, pollution, and damage to natural resources, including sensitive habitats and agriculture,” the agency’s statement said.
That is no consolation to Scott, who said activists protesting border wall construction are newly energized by the death of the trees.
“If they think they have crushed us, they have done the opposite,” she said. “They have also electrified the country that has followed us and supported us.”
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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