WASHINGTON — The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to allow work to resume on the Big Bend border wall after a lower court halted construction across a large stretch of West Texas.
The emergency filing seeks to overturn a recent injunction that paused the project, a setback for one of President Donald Trump’s key priorities.
Officials said the administration has been moving quickly on border infrastructure from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico. In the Big Bend region, however, ranchers, residents, businesses and environmental advocates have pushed back, calling the effort unnecessary in an area with historically low illegal crossings and warning of harm to the region’s scenic landscapes.
Big Bend border wall faces legal roadblocks
Opponents have brought multiple lawsuits targeting the Big Bend border wall plan, which combines new walls, vehicle barriers and surveillance systems. In one of those cases, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone on Oct. 2 ordered a stop to construction across roughly 500 miles while the case proceeds. The ruling marked a major win for a bipartisan coalition opposed to the project.
At the center of the dispute are broad waivers issued by the Homeland Security secretary that allow U.S. Customs and Border Protection to bypass environmental and other regulations that could slow work. The government argues that the Big Bend sector experiences high levels of unlawful entry and that laws dating to 1996 grant the secretary sweeping authority to build barriers and roads near the border when needed to deter illegal crossings.
Plaintiffs counter that Congress limited those waiver powers to areas of “high illegal entry,” a definition they say does not apply to the remote and rugged Big Bend. Judge Cardone agreed, writing that challengers are likely to prevail on their claim that the waivers exceeded the secretary’s authority under the major questions doctrine.
Funding and growing opposition to the Big Bend border wall
Trump has long pledged to span the approximately 2,000-mile southwest border with barriers. Last summer, Republicans in Congress approved $46 billion for the Department of Homeland Security to complete the project, including 30-foot steel bollards, vehicle barriers and surveillance technology.
Local resistance in Big Bend intensified in August when bulldozers were seen clearing land in Big Bend National Park. Cardone’s preliminary injunction halted work there and along stretches upriver and downriver, including tracts owned by private landowners and the state.
The government has warned that leaving Big Bend without barriers could channel more illegal immigration to the region. Opponents argue alternative tools such as drones and surveillance towers can be equally effective at a fraction of the cost.
Some legal scholars say the dispute could shape how far presidents can go in claiming broad statutory authority on immigration and border security, echoing past fights in which Trump executive power took center stage.
