Trump border wall: 200-year-old 'grandmother' tree toppled — SkimNews
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- Fisher Sand & Gravel used an excavator to push over a 200-year-old cottonwood tree on private land in Lochiel, Arizona, after federal agents cleared protesters, drawing condemnation from environmental groups.
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) deployed over 80 agents, including Bortac tactical units, to dismantle a 70-day tree-sit protest at dawn on Monday, arresting land defenders and blocking access to the site.
- Land defenders maintained a tree-sit for more than 70 days in opposition to wall construction, during which one protester was maced, restrained, and transported while locked to a cement truck on August 7.
- Julia Butterfly Hill praised the nonviolent resistance of a protester sprayed with mace and physically subdued, calling her 'a hero of the highest order' after viewing the incident on a livestream.
- Adelita Grijalva, a congresswoman representing the area, announced plans to introduce legislation revoking DHS’s authority to waive environmental and other laws for border infrastructure projects.
- Russ McSpadden of the Center for Biological Diversity emphasized the ecological significance of riparian cottonwoods, an endangered ecotype in the Southwest, as a key motivation for the land defense effort.
- Turning Point USA filmed the tree’s destruction from within the CBP operation, indicating close access to federal enforcement actions during the raid.
Why it matters: The destruction of the 'grandmother' tree and the forceful removal of protesters mark a significant escalation in federal enforcement to advance border wall construction, directly undermining environmental protections and community-led conservation efforts in a critical wildlife corridor. With 532 miles of secondary wall either built or underway in ecologically sensitive areas, the project risks irreversible damage to riparian systems and binational ecosystems, while fueling legal and political challenges to DHS’s sweeping waiver powers.
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