LAURA: ALONG THE U.S./MEXICO BORDER IN SOUTHERN  NEW MEXICO, THERE'S NOT A RIVER OR LAND FORM THAT  DIVIDES THE TWO COUNTRIES.

IT'S THE SAME CHIHUAHUAN  DESERT, THE SAME CONNECTED AQUIFERS BENEATH SOIL AND  STONE, THE SAME CREATURES LEAVING THEIR PRINTS BEHIND  IN THE SAND.

WE KNOW THERE ARE A LOT  OF SPECIES OUT HERE, BECAUSE WE'VE SET OUT WILDLIFE  CAMERAS AND WE'VE CAPTURED VIDEOS AND PHOTOS OF THEM.

THE IMAGES COLLECTED BY THE SOUTHWEST ENVIRONMENTAL  CENTER INCLUDE MOUNTAIN LIONS, BOBCATS, JAVELINAS,  DEER, COYOTES, AND FOXES.

NOT ONLY DOES THIS WALL  BREAK UP DIVISIONAL LANDSCAPES, FOR THE ANIMALS  THAT LIVE IN THIS VAST CHIHUAHUAN DESERT, IT POSES  AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT.

WILD ANIMALS NEED TO MOVE  ACROSS THE LANDSCAPE TO BE ABLE TO GET TO THE FOOD AND  THE WATER AND THE MATES THAT THEY NEED TO SURVIVE, SO  THEIR KIND CAN SURVIVE INTO THE FUTURE.

THIS IS A CLASSIC CASE OF HABITAT FRAGMENTATION, AND  BIOLOGISTS KNOW THAT WHEN YOU FRAGMENT HABITAT, YOU  DIVIDE POPULATIONS OF WILD ANIMALS INTO SMALLER  POPULATIONS, AND THE SMALLER THE POPULATION OF WILD  ANIMALS, THE MORE LIKELY IT IS TO DISAPPEAR, AND WHEN  ENOUGH OF THOSE POPULATIONS DISAPPEAR, THE SPECIES GOES  EXTINCT.

THE DESERT HERE IS QUIET.

BUT IN THE PAST TWO YEARS, CONSTRUCTION WORKERS HAVE  BEEN ERECTING 30-FOOT TALL STEEL BOLLARDS COSTING MORE  THAN $20 MILLION A MILE.

IN SOME PLACES, THE 30-FOOT  WALL REPLACES AN 18-FOOT WALL.

IN OTHERS, THE BORDER HAS BEEN NOTHING BUT BARBED WIRE  FENCES AND VEHICLE BARRIERS.

KEVIN BIXBY MOVED HERE 30  YEARS AGO.

AT THAT TIME, THE BORDER WAS  A BARBED WIRE FENCE TO KEEP CATTLE FROM GROSSING THE  INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY.

THERE REALLY WAS NO WALL  HERE TO SPEAK OF.

WHAT THERE WAS WAS THESE  VEHICLE BARRIERS THAT ARE MAYBE FOUR OR FIVE FEET  TALL.

REALLY NO PROBLEM FOR  WILDLIFE TO GET THROUGH.

WHEN PEOPLE SAY THAT THIS  ADMINISTRATION HAS NOT BUILT ANY NEW WALL, IT'S NOT  CORRECT.

FOR CENTURIES, PEOPLE  MOVED ACROSS THIS LANDSCAPE, TOO, TO TRADE, TRAVEL,  FOLLOW WILDLIFE, MIGRATE WITH THE SEASONS, TO BUILD  LIVES ON EITHER SIDE OF A LINE, A LINE IN THE DESERT  AGREED UPON BY TWO COUNTRIES.

ANGELICA RUBIO IS A STATE LAWMAKER.

SHE REPRESENTS THE CITY OF  LAS CRUCES.

I WAS BORN AND RAISED IN  THE SOUTHEASTERN PART OF THE STATE, AND MY PARENTS ARE  ACTUALLY FROM THE MARFA-PRESIDIO AREA, AND SO  FOR US, THE BORDER LAND HAS ALWAYS BEEN A BIG PART OF  WHO WE ARE, NOT ONLY MY FAMILY, BUT ALSO OUR  COMMUNITY.

AND THE SAME CAN BE SAID  ABOUT LAS CRUCES AND THE SOUTH VALLEY, WHERE SO MANY  OF THE SMALLER COMMUNITIES LEADING INTO EL PASO HAVE  BEEN A PART OF GENERATIONS-LONG BI-NATIONAL  COMMUNITIES THAT HAVE LIVED TOGETHER FOR A VERY, VERY  LONG TIME.

BUT AMERICA BEGAN TO  MILITARIZE ITS SOUTHERN BORDER, EVEN BEFORE THE  ELECTION OF DONALD TRUMP IN 2016, WHEN THE U.S.

STARTED GRANTING CONTRACTS, EACH WORTH HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS  OF DOLLARS, AND THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION BEGAN WAVING  ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION LAWS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION.

WHEN 45 WAS ELECTED INTO OFFICE A COUPLE YEARS AGO,  PEOPLE ASSUMED THAT THE WALL WAS BARELY GOING TO BE  BUILT, BUT WHAT PEOPLE DON'T REALIZE IS THAT THIS PART OF  THE REGION HAS BEEN HEAVILY MILITARIZED FOR A VERY LONG  TIME.

OVER THE COURSE OF CLINTON'S  ADMINISTRATION, THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION, AND EVEN  UNDER THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION, WE HAVE SEEN  BARRIERS GO UP.

THERE ARE CHECKPOINTS  THROUGHOUT SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO AND BORDER PATROL  AGENTS IN TOWNS AND CITIES.

TO RUBIO, THIS MAKES PEOPLE  IN SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO FEEL LIKE THEY ARE ALWAYS  SURROUNDED BY WALLS.

AND MYTHS HAVE ARISEN AROUND  THE BORDER WITH MEXICO.

I FEEL THAT THIS  NARRATIVE THAT THIS BORDER IS INSECURE AND THAT THIS  BORDER IS DANGEROUS IS REALLY BUILT ON FEAR FROM  THOSE WHO ARE NOT FROM HERE.

PUSHING BACK AGAINST  THESE DIVISIVE NARRATIVES ABOUT IMMIGRATION AND THE  LANDSCAPE HAS BROUGHT SOME NEW MEXICANS CLOSER  TOGETHER.

AFTER THE ELECTION IN  2016, THERE WAS A LOT OF UNLIKELY ALLIES, MANY ALLIES  WHO HAD WORKED IN SILOS FOR A VERY LONG TIME WHO CAME  TOGETHER NOT ONLY TO ADDRESS ISSUES AROUND HUMAN RIGHTS, BUT ALSO TO ADDRESS ISSUES AROUND THE PROTECTION OF OUR  PUBLIC LANDS AND OUR WILDLIFE, AND WE ALL CAME  TOGETHER TO REALLY THINK THROUGH WHAT WAS OUR  STRATEGY MOVING FORWARD, AND HOW DO WE FURTHER PROTECT  THIS VERY DIVERSE AREA FROM A WALL THAT IS VERY MUCH  GOING TO BE DESTRUCTIVE TO OUR LAND AND TO OUR  WILDLIFE.

EVEN IF IMMIGRATION  POLICIES CHANGE IN THE COMING YEARS, THE WALL WILL  STILL BE A SCAR.

IT WILL STILL STAND HERE IN  THE DESERT, IN THE DESERT THAT LOOKS JUST THE SAME ON  EITHER SIDE OF THE BORDER.

WORLDWIDE, WE'RE FACING  THIS GLOBAL EXTINCTION CRISIS WHERE WE'RE LOSING  POPULATIONS AND SPECIES OF WILDLIFE AND WE'RE LOSING  INTACT ECOSYSTEMS EVERYWHERE, AND AS ONE  SCIENTIST HAS SAID, WE'RE BUSY SAWING OFF THE BRANCH  WE'RE SITTING ON.

OUR FATE AS A SPECIES REALLY  DEPENDS ON MAINTAINING THE BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY OF THIS  WORLD.

AND WALLS DON'T HELP  ANYONE, BIXBY SAYS.

I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT  FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T LIVE HERE TO UNDERSTAND THAT,  FIRST OF ALL, THERE IS NO CRISIS.

SECONDLY, THE BORDER WALL CAUSES HARM TO WILDLIFE AND  THE ENVIRONMENT, AND THIS IS MY HOME AND THIS IS THE HOME  OF PEOPLE THAT LIVE ALONG THE BORDER, AND IT'S THE  HOME OF THE WILDLIFE THAT LIVES HERE.

GOOD FOR ANY OF US.

FOR 'OUR LAND' AND  NEW MEXICO InFOCUS, I'M LAURA PASKUS.