The Department of Homeland Security has announced it is bypassing environmental and land-management laws to build hundreds of miles of border fence between the United States and Mexico.

Conservation groups have said the current design amounts to an impenetrable concrete wall that would prevent wildlife from migrating and fragment habitat. Among the 30-some laws being waived are the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. The border wall would devastate national wildlife refuges of international importance and also private sanctuaries like Audubon’s own private property at Sabal Palm, located in one of the rarest and most endangered ecosystems in America.

Audubon president John Flicker called the plan "unprecedented and extreme." Read his full statement here.

Click here for in-depth coverage from Audubon Magazine.