A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from building border barriers across Texas’s Big Bend sector, rejecting government warnings that construction in other areas could divert illegal crossings to the region.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone issued the injunction in El Paso after local residents and preservation advocates sued to halt the project. Her order stops construction and related activity throughout the Big Bend sector, including Big Bend National Park, while the legal challenge moves forward.
“The federal government shall not build border barrier or related infrastructure, or engage in any construction or ground disturbing activities, in the Big Bend sector,” Cardone wrote in the two-page order, which she read aloud in court.
Cardone also prohibited the government from using waivers of environmental and other laws that had been issued to accelerate construction. She said officials “must comply with all applicable laws” and determined that the plaintiffs were likely to prevail on at least one of their claims.
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The plaintiffs include Billy Miller, a river guide from Terlingua, Texas, and a church preservation organization. Their lawsuit came after months of opposition and repeated starts and stops in the construction effort.
Opponents say the area’s remote, rugged landscape already acts as a deterrent to illegal crossings and warn that border barriers would harm the terrain. The Big Bend sector has recorded significantly fewer crossings than other sections of the Texas-Mexico border.
River guides and environmental advocates applauded outside the El Paso courthouse after Cardone announced her ruling.
“We dodged a bullet today,” Miller said. “It means that we can continue to introduce people to the wildness. Their plan was going to ruin the experience of anybody going out there.”