The Biden administration has agreed to settle lawsuits related to former President Donald Trump’s construction of the border wall and will fund environmental protection measures to compensate for the alleged harm to nature caused by such construction activities.
A coalition of 18 states, led by California, sued the Trump administration in 2019 and 2020, alleging that the government was illegally diverting taxpayer funds that were authorized for other purposes to build a wall at the U.S. border in four states—Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Two nonprofit organizations, the Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition, had also filed complaints. The lawsuits followed a national emergency declaration by Mr. Trump in 2019 at the U.S.–Mexico border that was used as justification to divert billions of dollars to build the wall.
