A U.S. Customs and Border Protection proposal to construct a 1.3-mile barrier along the southern skirt of a Sunland Park mountain threatens the area, local conservation groups say.
Most of Mount Cristo Rey lies in southern Doña Ana County, rising from the banks of the Rio Grande in an expanse of Chihuahuan desert, mottled with olive-green chaparral and ocotillo. The mountain hosts a 29-foot tall limestone statue of Jesus Christ on the cross, and draws thousands of people every year in pilgrimage from the surrounding areas in Las Cruces, El Paso and Juárez. The area is also a popular hiking and mountain biking area.
The proposal would widen roads to construct a 30-foot high steel barrier and an additional one and a half miles of roadway in Doña Ana County. The wall would stretch over the mountain’s southern portion, which stretches to the Anapra neighborhood in Juárez.
In announcing the project at the start of June, the Department of Homeland Security said it would “close critical gaps in the border wall and enhance border security operations” in the border areas in El Paso, Tucson and Yuma.
When reached by phone, CBP spokesperson Landon Hutchison added that Mount Cristo Rey “was a major human smuggling infiltration site for the cartels.”
Also in June, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem waived federal environment and water laws to speed up border wall construction projects, including more than 12 miles between Santa Teresa and Mount Cristo Rey. The waivers exempt projects from requirements of 24 federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act and National Environmental Policy Act.
U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) whose district encompasses Sunland Park, declined to say if he supports the project when reached for comment.
“I support responsible efforts to keep our border secure and our communities safe. That includes smart investments in technology and, where needed, physical barriers,” Vasquez said in a written statement. “We can keep our country safe while also respecting the environment, cultural heritage, and the people who call this region home.”
Members of El Paso-Las Cruces coalition No Border Walls on Mount Cristo Rey, however, urged the public to submit public comments on the project – which they say threatens to worsen migrant deaths, erosion and habitat loss for the area – before a July 3 feedback deadline.
While CBP data shows border crossings declined by nearly 80% in the last year, deaths of people crossing the border in the area around El Paso and New Mexico have risen sharply since 2021, and, in 2024, it became the deadliest place for migrants to cross along the entire U.S.-Mexico border.
“It is pretty disheartening to see,” Antoinette Reyes, the Southern New Mexico coordinator for Sierra Club Rio Grande chapter, told Source NM. “By blocking off that section, which is already steep and difficult terrain as is, it forces people to go into more dangerous portions of the border to cross.”
Injuries from climbing over the walls can result in life-changing injuries, said Dr. Brian Elmore, an emergency room physician in El Paso. He’s treated people who fell from the border walls, which can cause severe ankle breaks, as well as head and back injuries. The summer’s heat, combined with difficult terrain, could pose additional concerns, he said.
“I think by expanding the border wall, you threaten to turn this place of recreation, this place of worship, into a graveyard,” Elmore said. “I would expect to see more people falling from the wall there, suffering heat injuries, in this area.”
Construction of the border wall would also require high water use for pouring concrete to reinforce the roads for heavy machinery, said Erik Meza, a coordinator for the Sierra Club Borderlands program in Tucson.
“They will probably need to widen some of those roads, so that means that they are going to start bulldozing some of the native vegetation of the area, reducing a habitat for species,” he said. “By compacting the soils, we’re probably going to have more water runoff and erosion.”
The area is crucial for species such as javelina and mule deer, but also the birds, reptiles and pollinators that cross the habitat, said Raymundo Aguilar, a member of the Juárez conservation group Colectivo Sierra de Juárez. He noted that scientists documented an endangered Mexican Gray wolf crossing the border in the area in 2017, and the construction of a wall with 4-inch gaps between steel bollards would prevent most species from moving freely.
“Protecting this corridor is not only urgent; it is a commitment to the life we share on both sides of the border,” Aguilar said in Spanish. “We believe that efforts should focus on restoring this connectivity, not fragmenting it.”
