Trump Administration Asks the Supreme Court to Let Border Wall Construction Resume Through Texas's Big Bend
The government filed an emergency appeal after a federal judge halted work across roughly 500 miles on Oct. 2. The case turns on whether the Homeland Security secretary's waivers of environmental rules were legal in a region opponents say sees little illegal crossing.
The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to clear the way for a border wall project through the Big Bend region of Texas. It filed an emergency appeal Wednesday, according to the Associated Press report carried by Border Report.
What happened. A lower court halted construction on Oct. 2. AP calls the ruling a setback for one of the president's signature projects. Judge Kathleen Cardone ordered work stopped across the roughly 500-mile project area while the case plays out. The injunction covers Big Bend National Park and land up and down the river from it owned by private landowners or the state.
The legal question. The project there is a mix of walls, vehicle barriers and surveillance technology. It relies on sweeping waivers signed by the Homeland Security secretary that let Customs and Border Protection skip environmental and other rules. The government says the Big Bend sector is a high illegal entry area and that a 1996 law explicitly gives the secretary these powers. Opponents say Congress allowed waivers specifically in areas of "high illegal entry," and that this remote, rugged region does not fit. Cardone sided with them. She wrote that the plaintiffs "are likely to succeed on the merits of their major questions doctrine claim that the Big Bend Waivers were issued in excess of the Secretary's authority."
The government's argument. AP says the administration contends that if Big Bend is left as one of the few areas without a wall or other barriers, illegal crossings could funnel there. Opponents counter that drones and surveillance towers work as well and cost far less.
The opposition. AP says ranchers, residents, business owners and environmentalists have filed numerous lawsuits, arguing the projects waste money in an area of historically low illegal immigration and could harm scenic landscapes. The fight escalated in August when bulldozers were seen clearing land in the national park.
The money. Republicans in Congress gave Homeland Security $46 billion last summer to finish the wall, a mix of 30-foot steel bollard walls, vehicle barriers and surveillance technology. The administration has been building from the Pacific to the Gulf, AP says.
What happens next. The report does not say when the justices might act on the request.