Federal Judge Halts 500-Mile Big Bend Border Wall, Voiding Trump Waivers
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Oct 2
Federal Judge Halts 500-Mile Big Bend Border Wall, Voiding Trump Waivers
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Oct 2
Summary
Judge Kathleen Cardone on Friday barred the federal government from building border barriers or doing any ground-disturbing work across Texas's Big Bend sector while the case proceeds.
A two-page injunction said the government cannot rely on self-issued waivers of environmental and other laws to speed construction and must comply with applicable law.
The lawsuit targets plans for barriers along more than 500 miles of the Mexico border, including parts of Big Bend National Park, after months of protests and stop-and-start construction.
Plaintiffs argued the remote region sees relatively few illegal crossings, while federal officials had said traffic could shift there as barriers rise elsewhere on the border.
River guides and environmental activists hailed the order as a major win, saying it stopped bulldozers across a wilderness region long opposed to wall construction.