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Law360 (April 9, 2020, 3:58 PM EDT) -- Four Democratic lawmakers wrote to the Trump administration Wednesday demanding an end to border wall construction amid the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the continued work is threatening the health of small border and indigenous communities.
Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva, D-Ariz.; Filemon Vela, D-Texas; Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz.; and Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., sent the letter to the Departments of Justice, Defense and Homeland Security.
"There is no time to spare," the lawmakers wrote. "Border wall construction should have been halted weeks ago."
The letter urged the federal government to "redirect their resources during this most critical time where they are needed most: ending this pandemic."
According to the letter, border wall workers are congregating in small border towns, which threatens to spread the coronavirus in places with limited resources to fight the illness, including places such as Ajo, Arizona, where there is "one market, no drugstore, and no hospital."
The letter is the latest attempt by Democratic lawmakers to slow down or stop border wall construction and comes after former members of Congress urged the Fifth Circuit on Friday to uphold a ruling that blocks the Trump administration from diverting $3.6 billion to border wall construction. The former lawmakers argued that a real national emergency like the COVID-19 outbreak shows the president's earlier emergency declaration was a "sham."
The letter from the current members of Congress argued that all federal resources being spent on the wall, including the billions of diverted funds, should go toward fighting COVID-19, adding that hundreds of millions of the money had been earmarked for emergency and disaster responses for National Guard units.
"To put vulnerable families already suffering at disproportionate rates at this time is simply unconscionable," the lawmakers said. "Your agencies must immediately cease all border wall eminent domain litigation and physical surveying of land during the pandemic."
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"The president's border wall has already put our environment and border communities at risk," Kirkpatrick said in a statement. "To continue border construction right now is reckless, and puts more Southern Arizonan families and construction workers' lives at risk. Border wall construction will not cure this global pandemic, strong health care and science will."
--Additional reporting by Sarah Martinson. Editing by Peter Rozovsky.
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