{"id":755614,"date":"2026-07-10T23:46:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T23:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/755614\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T23:46:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T23:46:19","slug":"amid-blistering-drought-feds-tap-new-mexico-aquifers-to-build-border-wall-without-permits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/755614\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid blistering drought, feds tap New Mexico aquifers to build border wall without permits"},"content":{"rendered":"

In its dash to build President Trump\u2019s signature border wall, the federal government is drilling unpermitted wells into already-depleted aquifers in New Mexico, according to state officials.<\/p>\n

The New Mexico Office of the State Engineer told Here & Now it counted at least six wells under development along the border, but none have the necessary permits required by state law.<\/p>\n

One of the wells is on Russell Johnson\u2019s cattle ranch, which shares an 8.5-mile border with Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s where they’re currently drilling right now. It looks like they\u2019ve hit water, too,\u201d said Johnson, president of the Luna County Farm and Livestock Bureau.<\/p>\n

Johnson said another well is near completion on his neighbor\u2019s ranch.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Trump administration is building a new wall where a wall already exists. The double wall is designed to deter migrants from crossing into the United States. (Courtesy of Myles Traphagen)<\/p>\n

He hosted a meeting<\/a> Thursday night in the border community of Deming, New Mexico, where he said more than 160 people showed up to express their concern. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Johnson relies on a natural spring to supply water for his cattle and his home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese wells that they\u2019re drilling for border wall construction, they\u2019re talking about trying to attain 300-plus gallons a minute, and it\u2019s going to pump us dry,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you have livestock, you\u2019ve got to water, they can\u2019t wait. You can\u2019t haul enough water to keep them in good supply, so it becomes an immediate disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

A punishing drought has already hurt ranchers across the West. Groundwater makes up more than half of New Mexico\u2019s water supply, and that reserve is shrinking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost all of our wells are kind of struggling,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

Construction crews use groundwater to mix cement for Trump\u2019s wall. Myles Traphagen, a borderlands biologist who has been documenting border wall construction since it began in Trump\u2019s first term, said he\u2019s identified six wells along a 27-mile stretch of construction in Arizona.<\/p>\n

\"AA basin filled with groundwater was used to mix cement for the border wall under construction during President Trump\u2019s first term. This photo was taken in 2021, soon after he left office. (Peter O\u2019Dowd\/Here & Now)<\/p>\n

During the first Trump administration, ponds at the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge dried up<\/a> after crews pumped millions of gallons of water to mix cement for the wall. The wetlands are home to endangered fish.<\/p>\n

Now, construction across the region has started again. The 30-foot wall is going up in places workers didn\u2019t get to the first time around, and a second barrier is going up where a wall already exists.<\/p>\n

Customs and Border Protection calls it a \u201csmart wall<\/a>,\u201d which includes new technology like sensors, lighting and cameras. Congress gave the administration nearly $47 billion to finish the project.<\/p>\n

\"MylesMyles Traphagen, pictured in 2021, stands at the site of the unfinished border wall in Arizona. (Peter O\u2019Dowd\/Here & Now)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a staggering amount of money and a staggering amount of resources that are being used for a border wall,\u201d Traphagen said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s largely out of sight and out of mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

The issue is on the radar of state officials in New Mexico.<\/p>\n

The wells are on federal property, within a 60-foot strip of land that runs along the international boundary known as the Roosevelt Reservation. In April, Customs and Border Protection sent a letter to the state engineer\u2019s office that said the federal government is \u201cimmune\u201d from state law that requires a permit to pump groundwater.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do disagree with that,\u201d said Nat Chakeres, general counsel for the state engineer. \u201cIn New Mexico and it’s the same in all Western states, it doesn\u2019t matter really if you\u2019re on federal land or land of other ownership. To drill water wells, you need permits from the state engineer.\u201d<\/p>\n

CBP applied for and received permits to drill water for border wall construction in the first Trump administration, Chakeres said. But without permits this time, it\u2019s impossible to know how much water the government is using and what kind of impact it could have on local ranchers.<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security also maintains it has the authority to waive environmental laws to get the wall built. CBP provided a statement to Here & Now, saying water is required for road construction, concrete production and dust suppression. The agency said it is working with New Mexico to develop a groundwater management strategy.<\/p>\n

“CBP\u2019s goal is to minimize water use and to work collaboratively with local landowners to ensure that construction activities do not adversely impact their water needs,” the statement said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, New Mexico rancher Russell Johnson supports tighter security. He\u2019s a former Border Patrol agent, and he doesn\u2019t want people crossing illegally through his ranch, which he says used to happen all the time.<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s not sure about the government\u2019s decision to build a second wall in places where one has already been built, especially if it puts his water supply at risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, it almost seems a little bit overkill,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be fiber-optic sensor systems that are put in, cameras, different lighting and everything; it seems like if everything is working properly, and you\u2019ve got the Border Patrol agents back on the border where they\u2019re supposed to be, a secondary wall seems a little redundant.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In its dash to build President Trump\u2019s signature border wall, the federal government is drilling unpermitted wells into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":755615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-755614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/755615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}