Big Bend border barrier construction stopped by federal court
Rio Grande from Marufo Vega (Photo: NPS/DDosedal)
A federal judge on Friday put a stop to any further construction of a border barrier in the Big Bend region.
Judge halts construction in Big Bend while lawsuit plays out
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone's order states the groups challenging construction in Big Bend are "likely to succeed on the merits of at least one of the claims" and that "there is a likelihood that they will suffer serious, irreparable harm" without the court's intervention.
The order blocks any "ground disturbing" activities in the region until the lawsuit plays out.
Environmental group Center for Biological Diversity led a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the waiver of federal environmental laws to expedite construction.
What they're saying:
"This is a historic victory for Big Bend and everyone who loves this wild corner of Texas," Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said. "No administration has the right to destroy a crown-jewel national park for political theatre. With a federal court ordering the bulldozers to stop, Big Bend gets to breathe. But this fight is far from over. We won’t rest until Big Bend’s environmental protections are fully restored and the illegal waiver that allowed so much destruction is gone for good."
The environmental group, along with Friends of the Ruidosa Church and an area river guide, filed the lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security in April. The lawsuit claims DHS violated a U.S. Constitution provision requiring Congressional approval.
Construction in the region was paused in August amid pressure from opponents of the project, while they engaged in outreach efforts to those opponents. That pause ended Wednesday.
The Trump administration said in court documents filed Tuesday night that it was looking to "reduce the scope" of the project and even though the pause was lifted, they did not plan to restart construction for several weeks.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Big picture view:
The Big Bend region covers around a quarter of the U.S.-Mexico border and saw just 1.3% of all border apprehensions in 2025. Opponents of the projects inside the national park have said the National Park Service and CBP have long been able to work together on border enforcement without additional patrol roads and vehicle barriers.
The Source: Information in this article comes from court filings in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. A statement was provided by the Center for Biological Diversity.