Border wall to run through National Butterfly Center,

CBP says is the headline in the March 31, 2026 Border Report

We have met with Customs and Border Patrol officials and they have confirmed that they intend to build a border wall through the National Butterfly Center, which is owned and operated by the North American Butterfly Association.

Eight years ago, when CBP first intended to build a wall through the National Butterfly Center, public resistance caused Congress to exempt the National Butterfly Center from wall construction.

The outlook this time is even more perilous for the National Butterfly Center. If a wall is built, seventy of the National Butterfly Center's 100 acres of land will be behind the wall. The wall will destroy invaluable native plant habitat that supports abundant butterfly fauna and other animals. Although butterflies can usually fly over walls, bobcats, horned toads and other animals cannot.

The true shame is this construction is completely unnecessary. Perhaps you strongly believe that illegal immigration should be stopped. Perhaps you believe that the population of the United States is already too large and no immigration should be allowed. We don't believe that either of these views is irrational. However, building a wall through the National Butterfly Center is not required or useful to stem immigration. Border wall crossings are at an all-time low and there are essentially no crossings at the National Butterfly Center, a very easily monitored area. The only thing that building a wall through the National Butterfly Center will accomplish is the waste of millions of your tax dollars. At this time, border security doesn't require that we destroy the National Butterfly Center, the best place in the United States to see and learn about wild butterflies* (see below) and one of the most important and vibrant community assets in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

Because of the above, we ask you, to the extent that you are able, to support the National Butterfly Center during this difficult time period. All donations made here will go directly to the National Butterfly Center. Your support will help defray any legal costs, public relations expenses, planning for border wall related contingencies, strengthening public outreach, additional plantings to help butterflies and other wildlife counteract wall construction, and any other projects that will ensure the continued survival of the National Butterfly Center.

Many thousands of schoolchildren, from the most economically disadvantaged region of the United States, visit the National Butterfly Center each year, to learn about the importance of butterflies and of all of nature.

This place means so much to so many, and your support helps ensure it continues to exist, grow, and serve this community through this time and beyond.

Thank you!

*In it's 20 years of existence, 250 species of butterflies have been seen at the NBC. For comparison, 100 species have been seen at Everglades National Park and 119 species at Yellowstone National Park. On peak days at the NBC one can see more than 200,000 individual butterflies (these are wild, the NBC is not a zoo) of 100 species.

Thank you!

You can see some news stories about this here and here.