Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Allow Big Bend Border Wall Construction
The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on October 21 to let it proceed with a plan to build a U.S.-Mexico border barrier in a remote region of West Texas that includes Big Bend National Park, Reuters reported. The Justice Department filed an emergency request asking the justices to lift a federal judge's order halting wall construction in the region while a lawsuit against the project plays out.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso issued an injunction on October 2 halting the construction. In an opinion issued later, she found that the Department of Homeland Security waivers behind the project exceeded the authority of former Secretary Kristi Noem and current Secretary Markwayne Mullin. The waivers, issued between February and July, exempted construction of roads and barriers in the Big Bend region from a variety of environmental and conservation laws, after the secretaries found the region to be an "area of high illegal entry" requiring additional barriers.
The lawsuit was brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, a Big Bend-area river guide and a group seeking to preserve a historic church in Ruidosa, Texas, which says its fragile adobe structure is threatened by the border construction. The push to extend border infrastructure into the national park, about 250 miles (400 km) southeast of El Paso, has also faced opposition from local officials, conservationists and some Texas Republicans. In its request, the Justice Department urged the Supreme Court to pause or overturn Cardone's injunction while the litigation continues.
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Photo: 图：德州 Big Bend 国家公园内的 Santa Elena 峡谷，格兰德河左岸为美国、右岸为墨西哥（资料图）。Ken Lund 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，取自维基共享资源。Photo: Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend National Park, Texas, with the United States on the left bank of the Rio Grande and Mexico on the right (file photo). Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
