Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Restart Big Bend Border Wall After Judge Halts 500-Mile Project
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to let it resume building a border wall and related infrastructure across Texas’s Big Bend region, after a federal judge froze the roughly 500-mile project.
The Justice Department filed an emergency application asking the justices to lift a preliminary injunction issued this month by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone, CBS News reported.
“The district court’s injunction significantly frustrates the government’s ability to stop the flow of illegal aliens and drugs across the southern border,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote, according to CBS.
Cardone’s Oct. 2 order barred construction and “ground disturbing activities” across the Big Bend Sector, which covers more than 500 miles of border and 77 Texas counties, according to the Associated Press and CBS.
The judge found the challengers were likely to succeed on their claim that the waivers used to fast-track the project exceeded the Homeland Security secretary’s authority under the major questions doctrine, the AP reported.
Those waivers rest on a 1996 immigration law that lets the secretary set aside environmental and other legal requirements to quickly build barriers and roads near the border in areas of “high illegal entry.”
Then-Secretary Kristi Noem invoked that power when she announced the project in February, and her successor, Markwayne Mullin, issued two more waivers, CBS reported. Cardone found both exceeded their authority.
The lawsuit was filed in April by an environmental nonprofit, a professional river guide and a religious organization tied to a historic church along the Rio Grande, according to CBS.
The fight turns on whether Big Bend qualifies as a high-entry area. The government says more than 89,000 people were apprehended crossing illegally in the sector between 2021 and 2025, CBS reported.
The plaintiffs counter that Big Bend ranks last among southern border sectors for apprehensions. Although it covers more than a quarter of the border, it accounted for 0.3% to 2.2% of annual border-wide apprehensions, according to court filings.
The administration also argues that leaving Big Bend as one of the few unfortified stretches could funnel illegal crossings there, the AP reported. Opponents say drones and surveillance towers would be cheaper and just as effective.
Opposition has been bipartisan. Ranchers, residents, business owners, local law enforcement and lawmakers from both parties objected after bulldozers were spotted clearing land in Big Bend National Park, according to the AP and CBS.
Customs and Border Protection has said the wall itself will not cut through the national park, but patrol roads, detection technology and about 17 miles of vehicle barriers would, CBS reported.
Construction of a 47-mile stretch of wall in the region began last month, and the government has awarded contracts for five barrier projects there. The Washington Post put the project’s cost at $1.7 billion.
The broader wall effort is well funded. Congressional Republicans last summer gave Homeland Security $46 billion to finish the wall, a mix of 30-foot steel bollards, vehicle barriers and surveillance technology, the AP reported.
Shortly before the Justice Department turned to the Supreme Court, Cardone rejected the administration’s request to pause her ruling, according to CBS.
Content created by Conservative Daily News and some content syndicated through CDN is available for re-publication without charge under the Creative Commons license. Visit our syndication page for details and requirements.
