Administration Turns to Supreme Court to Revive Big Bend Border Wall Construction

The Trump administration on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let construction of border walls and other barriers continue across the Big Bend region of West Texas while a legal challenge plays out.

The emergency application follows an injunction issued only weeks earlier by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone. Her order blocks barrier construction, along with the use of federal regulatory waivers that speed up the project, across the entire Big Bend region. The area is known for its rugged canyons and desert landscapes. It covers nearly a quarter of the U.S.-Mexico border but has historically recorded some of the lowest numbers of border crossings in the Southwest.

The Center for Biological Diversity, a church preservation group and a local river guide are suing the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection over the plans for the region.

In its filing, the government described the injunction as "baseless" and argued that its border security and operational interests "vastly outweigh any aesthetic, recreational, or cultural injuries" claimed by the plaintiffs. It wants the justices to stay the lower court order so work can resume, and also to "summarily" take up the case and reverse the injunction.

For the moment, the block on construction remains in place. On Tuesday, Cardone rejected a separate request from the government, made in the lower court, to allow work to continue.

The administration says the pause is costing more than $460,000 a day because of the "scale" of the project. According to the application, crews had already built about three quarters of a mile of border barrier and set up temporary field offices, supply yards, a water delivery system and a temporary concrete batch plant.

The government also contends that building walls along other stretches of the border but not in Big Bend would produce a "funneling" effect. "DHS has further determined that leaving an open segment of the border without barriers in the Big Bend region would create a funnel point for illegal-alien crossings and smugglers," the filing said.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs from the Texas Civil Rights Project and the Center for Biological Diversity told Marfa Public Radio that the region's natural barriers have prevented, and will continue to prevent, illegal crossings. Zeynep Graves, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the group was "deeply disappointed" by the request. "Once Big Bend's canyons, cultural treasures and wild ecosystems are destroyed, they'll be lost forever," Graves said, adding that only Congress can authorize something as consequential as walling off the entire border.

The application notes that no border walls are currently planned for Big Bend National Park or Big Bend Ranch State Park. Private property in the area, however, is slated to receive 30-foot-high steel bollard walls, and the parks would see patrol roads, vehicle barriers and other border security infrastructure. The Supreme Court has not said when it will respond.