"Secretary Ryan Zinke wanted to ‘support the border security mission,’ an official said in one email"

"Federal government scientists raised red flags last year about President Trump’s proposed wall for the U.S.-Mexico border, suggesting that it could harm the habitats of imperiled species living in the ecologically diverse region. Constructing a physical barrier in southern Texas, some said, should be avoided if possible.

But a number of those concerns did not make it to border officials considering the wall’s construction.

Interior Department officials stripped from a key letter to U.S. Customs and Border Protection a number of warnings by career biologists and wildlife managers about the potential impacts of the border wall on the area’s rare cats and other animals, according to new documents released under the Freedom of Information Act."

Dino Grandoni and Juliet Eilperin report for the Washington Post December 10, 2018. [2]