Federal plans to build a second 30 foot steel-bollard section of border wall 90 to 150 feet north of the existing barrier threaten Quitobaquito Springs in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a spring held sacred by the O'odham people. The spring’s pond, one of the only reliable water sources for roughly 100 miles, is the only wild habitat for Sonoyta pupfish and springsnails and the only U.S. habitat for the Sonoyta mud turtle. In 2020, construction of a 30 foot wall coincided with the spring flow dipping to an all-time low and partial drying after the pond lining cracked; environmentalists warn new heavy machinery would likely destroy part of the pond and level a mesquite grove that is federally designated critical habitat. Sierra Club borderlands coordinator Erick Meza described the scale as unprecedented, and Tara Harris of the Phoenix Zoo said the project could destroy the last remaining habitat for multiple imperiled species. Organ Pipe crossings have been negligible since 2025, and advocates note earlier high asylum-seeker crossings in 2023, 24 persisted despite the first wall, underscoring questions about the necessity of a second barrier. Construction of similar secondary fencing has already been completed on about 34 miles of the border, much of it in Arizona, and crews are moving forward with plans at Quitobaquito.
