Barrier construction along the United States’ southern border has damaged sensitive ecosystems, public lands and Indigenous cultural sites, a report by a nonpartisan government research agency has found.

Released to the public on Thursday, the 72-page report marks the first independent effort from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to assess the destruction caused by building the border wall.

It describes government contractors “blasting” a sacred Indigenous burial with explosives and leaving a mountainside “in danger of collapse”, among other incidents of harm.

The report focuses on a period from 2017 through January 2021, during the administration of former President Donald Trump. While the document never mentions Trump by name, it explains that federal authorities at the time relied on national security provisions to bypass existing protections.

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