Tired of winning

IN THE DESERT GRASSLANDS along the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge, amid the muted greens of spindly ocotillos and creosote bush, construction workers are digging trenches, widening roads, pumping groundwater and pouring deep concrete bases. Their work is part of the construction of a 30-foot-high border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

This portion of the wall in south-eastern Arizona is just one of the 18 sections announced in 2019. Trump’s long-promised wall has finally evolved from campaign rhetoric to reality. And for the past year, environmental groups and border communities have fought it, filing lawsuits that challenge its funding sources, organizing protests in cities and at national monuments, and testifying in emotional hearings before lawmakers in D.C. But so far, their efforts have failed to stop construction.

Meanwhile, border residents — members