Thread by @BillWeirCNN

Spent the past couple days at the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas to take some pics and tell a rather amazing story...

Run by nonprofit nature lovers, this place is a 100 acre pocket of amazing wildlife on the banks of the Rio Grande…

It is situated in “the tip of the funnel” of butterfly migration and is the southernmost way station for Monarchs making the long flight from Mexico to backyards across the U.S. (they are still in Mexico but here's one with a funny nose)

Marianna Trevino-Wright is the director. For years, her biggest worries involved grant applications, milkweed and third grade field trips.
Now she spends her days obsessing over Congressional stalemates, eminent domain laws and vile hate mail.

“We get a whole lot of ‘F*&% you and f%#@ your butterflies,” the mother of 6 tells me.
“'You stupid liberal c*&%, I bet you aborted your baby, why else would you put butterflies above human lives? I hope MS-13 rapes you.'”

It began when she found 5 guys with chainsaws clearing the carefully maintained habitat. “I said, ‘What are you doing here?’ and they said ‘We were sent by the government to clear land between the border wall and the river.”

That was 9 months before a Congressional vote on appropriation for border wall

They called the lawyers and filed suit. Then they spotted this machine turning a neighboring nature preserve into mulch and tried to file a restraining order to stop it. They lost the case Friday.

Now they wait for Congress to decide the fate of Trump’s emergency declaration. Since butterflies are notoriously apathetic about calling their Congressmen, it’s anyone’s guess what happens next.

But since birders and butterfliers love making lists, The National Butterfly Center has a list of all the laws being waived to build the wall.
"Why would they waive them if they're not going to break them?"
Marianna said.

Here's my piece for @TheLeadCNN

cnn.com/videos/tv/2019…