Department of Defense accelerates unraveling of democracy, species extinction, and net recreation losses
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 4/16/25
MEDIA CONTACT: Cumbia Padilla, Communications Coordinator, cumbiapadilla@greenlatinos.org
WASHINGTON — In a late Friday evening memorandum, President Trump initiated a military takeover of public lands at the southern border. Just days later Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum appeared in New Mexico to announce that over 109,000 acres of public lands within the Department of Interior’s jurisdiction, such as those administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), are now under jurisdiction of the Department of the Army. This is at least the second time, and is the largest instance in which the military has gained jurisdiction of national public lands. In response, GreenLatinos issues the following statements.
“These lands belong to the people, and the idea that this administration is seizing public lands in New Mexico under the auspices of national security is ludicrous.
There is simply no credible threat to our national resources at the U.S.-Mexican border. Sequestration of public lands without valid reasons establishes a dangerous precedent. We cannot relinquish these lands to wanton destruction for the sole purpose of political theater and without regard for the communities, wildlife, water, or landscapes that will be impacted,” said Carlos Matutes, New Mexico Community Advocate, GreenLatinos.
“This is a red alert to all who stand by the ideals of democracy. The Army is taking over our national public lands with no public input so they can cut new roads, construct surveillance machinery, barrage through the landscape in polluting vehicles, and speed up border wall construction. The Department of Defense is responsible for fragmented habitat, imperiled species, and blocked public access to hiking trails, campsites, and sacred places on our national public lands at the southern border–not immigrants. This is not a border security matter; it’s a matter of keeping public lands in public hands, and not in the hands of Customs and Border Patrol or U.S. Army contractors who will profit,” said Olivia Juarez, Public Land Program Director, GreenLatinos.
This recent executive action tracks with the proposed H.R. 1820, the Federal Lands Amplified Security for the Homeland (FLASH) Act. This federal bill would mandate the construction of at least 584 miles of "navigable roads" across sensitive public lands within 10 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, expedite border infrastructure construction, authorize states to build temporary structures with no oversight, increase penalties for migrants on southern public lands, and restrict measures for temporarily housing asylum seekers.
We call on photographers, videographers, journalists, radio show hosts and artists to document these next three years of the Army administering our national multiple use lands. Document land use changes and show them to the public across U.S states and territories. The public must bear witness to this unprecedented scale of action.
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About GreenLatinos
GreenLatinos (NOTE: GreenLatinos is ONE WORD) is an active comunidad of Latino/a/e leaders, emboldened by the power and wisdom of our culture, united to demand equity and dismantle racism, resourced to win our environmental, conservation, and climate justice battles, and driven to secure our political, economic, cultural, and environmental liberation.