Today, on the 20^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, an exhibit depicting the deep cultural and environmental impacts of the U.S. border wall went up in the Russell Rotunda of the Senate. Earlier this year, the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP) sent a team of world-renowned photographers, writers, filmmakers, and scientists to the borderlands of the United States and Mexico to document the region’s wildlife and ecology, and to highlight the effect of the border wall on the region.

The border wall has destroyed precious natural areas and disrupted local communities across the borderlands region. In California , the double and triple layer border walls have cut off access to Friendship Park, an international cultural meeting place. In Arizona , a fifteen-foot steel wall now blocks animal migration in many of the state’s natural areas, including the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. In Texas, where the wall now cuts through wildlife refuges along the Rio Grande, concrete border walls topped with metal prevent animal access to water, habitat and mates.