MISSION — Heavy equipment has arrived at the National Butterfly Center, signaling the start of a border wall that will slice through the protected habitat.

Congress approved funding for this section of the wall in last year’s federal budget, before the impasse between Democrats and President Donald Trump held up another round of wall funding and led to the recent 35-day partial government shutdown.

As equipment for the construction was off-loaded Monday morning, a group of about 35 tribal members, including the Floresville-based Carrizo Comecrudo, marched in protest on the Rio Grande levee where the wall will be built.

“I didn’t expect it this soon,” said Juan Mancias, tribal chair of Carrizo Comecrudo, who led the protest with an eagle feather staff in hand. “But there’s a constant uneasiness.”

The wall will include a 150-foot-wide “enforcement zone,” according to federal documents, which could also destroy gravesites of Mancias’ ancestors at the Eli Jackson Cemetery in San Juan.

Trump has demanded $5.7 billion in new wall spending, well beyond the $1.6 billion approved in the last budget. Government agencies were reopened under a temporary funding measure that is set to expire Feb. 15. A congressional committee is negotiating a solution to present to Trump before the deadline.

The existing funding will pay for 33 miles of new fencing in the Rio Grande Valley, including 6 miles that are under contract near McAllen, including the stretch through the butterfly center.

The steel-and-concrete bollard fencing will cut off 70 of the sanctuary’s 100 acres, with gates for access.

All along the levee, government surveyors have staked out a route for the wall. Acres of shrubs and trees span either side of the levee, where Border Patrol agents are on constant patrol.

“You come over here, you see the butterflies here, the animals here, and you also see gravesites that have been here since 1865,” Mancias said.

He feels a kinship with the butterfly center. He said that, in a sense, they’re both dedicated to “saving that which is native to Texas” — be it butterflies or the history of its native people.

“We have an association with nature, we are a part of it,” Mancias said.

The protesters sang songs in the native Lakota language. A verse in one song says: “We know that everything is sacred, so we walk with everything that is sacred.”

Lorri Burnett, a community organizer for Defenders of Wildlife, walked with them.

She had spotted an earthmover near the center Sunday and raised an alarm on Facebook. Customs and Border Protection officials issued a public notice last week that heavy machinery would be delivered to the site as early as Monday.

The Trump administration is waiving 28 environmental laws to build the wall, a decision that brought a lawsuit in November by Defenders of Wildlife, which asserts that the waivers exceed the government’s authority.

“This isn’t due process,” Burnett said, because the butterfly center isn’t on federal land.

“I’m here for my grandchildren,” she said. “This is the most pristine, most beautiful area I have ever witnessed. This is gorgeous. And to know that my grandchildren will never be able to see this … the damage that is going to be done by this wall is going to take centuries to rebuild, if it can.”

In a separate dispute, the government will argue in court Wednesday for access to survey land of the historic La Lomita Chapel, farther downriver in Mission. The Catholic Diocese of Brownsville has refused to provide access at the site, which would be stranded between the Rio Grande and the planned wall.

On ExpressNews.com: Border wall will not hinder access to National Butterfly Center, agency says

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Silvia Foster-Frau is a staff writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | sfosterfrau@express-news.net | Twitter: @SilviaElenaFF