Federal judge blocks Trump administration from building border wall through Big Bend in Texas
A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from building a border wall in the Big Bend region of Texas. The order stops the Department of Homeland Security from resuming work inside Big Bend National Park after local challengers warned the project would damage the park’s environment and recreational value.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone issued a brief order barring the administration from building border barrier or infrastructure in the Big Bend sector. The order also prohibits any “construction or ground disturbing activities,” giving local opponents a court-enforced halt to the project while their challenge proceeds.
The ruling blocks the Department of Homeland Security’s effort to rapidly expand the Southwestern border wall in that area. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Construction in Big Bend had already been delayed. The administration paused border wall work in the national park in August, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said at the time that he would visit the area and discuss the project with local stakeholders.
Local challengers urged the court to prevent the administration from restarting construction. In an August motion, they argued that the administration exceeded its authority on multiple fronts and warned that the project would harm the environment and recreation in the park.
The challengers told the court that damage from the project could not be undone later.
“Once bulldozers clear vegetation, roads are cut into previously undeveloped terrain, lights mounted, and steel barrier infrastructure is effected, those qualities cannot be restored through monetary compensation or after-the-fact relief,” they wrote.
The dispute had drawn public protest in the park area. In Study Butte, Texas, a community near Big Bend, demonstrators gathered on August 15 to oppose plans for a section of the wall through the park, holding signs that read “NO WALL PROTECT BIG BEND.”
The order preserves the status quo while the case continues. It bars construction only in the Big Bend sector and does not end the broader federal effort to expand border barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The next step will come in the underlying lawsuit, where the challengers are asking the court to stop the administration permanently from building the wall in the park. No further hearing date was included in the judge’s brief order.
