National Butterfly Center Expected to Be Plowed Over for Border Wall Construction

The protected habitat of the National Butterfly Center along the Rio Grande is expected to be plowed through after the Supreme Court upheld a ruling allowing the Trump administration to bypass 26 different federal laws to build a wall on the southern border this week, the San Antonio Express News reports. Hundreds of thousands of butterflies housed in the protected habitat will be in jeopardy after about 70 percent of the center's land winds up on the other side of the border wall, Marianna Wright, the executive director of the center, told the newspaper. The moves comes after the Supreme Court reportedly upheld a District Court ruling that allowed laws like the “Endangered Species Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Air Act” to be waived for border wall construction. Wright said she has no idea how much land will be left for the butterflies after construction is over. Border Patrol agents told her construction at the center is expected to begin in February, she said. “We have a president who purports to be all about law and order, and he and the Supreme Court are now supporting the waiver of all laws that get in the way of his agenda,” Wright was quoted as saying. “That should be an affront to all Americans.”