The US Supreme Court has allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to continue building a border wall in the Big Bend region of Texas, including parts of Big Bend National Park.
In an unsigned, five-page ruling, the court granted the administration’s emergency request to suspend a lower court order that had temporarily halted the project last month. Liberal justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only one of the nine justices to dissent.
The plaintiffs include the Center for Biological Diversity, a Big Bend river guide and a church preservation group. The justices said the plaintiffs claim construction will reduce their ability to use and enjoy the area. But they noted that the immigration law lets the homeland security secretary waive environmental and conservation requirements, which reflects a clear congressional preference for fast border construction over the harms the plaintiffs cite. The government’s interest, they said, outweighs the alleged aesthetic, recreational and environmental harm.
The administration plans to build more than 300 miles of six-foot-tall vehicle barriers and supporting roads. It relies on a 1996 law that authorizes the homeland security secretary to waive all legal requirements in areas designated as having high levels of illegal border crossings.
The plaintiffs argue that the project threatens wildlife and public lands and could destroy “iconic sections” of the protected Rio Grande river corridor.
A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) map shows planned barriers and patrol roads across Big Bend National Park, including remote areas that would need extensive dynamite blasting. The Center for Biological Diversity noted that construction is also planned in isolated canyons where no unauthorized vehicle crossings have been documented and where vehicles cannot reach the border.
CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said the wall is being built at about 12 miles a week and is expected to be completed by the end of Trump’s second term. CBP has awarded five contracts worth more than $6bn for border security upgrades in Big Bend, including 30-foot steel fencing, vehicle barriers and surveillance technology, which the agency calls its “smart wall.”
The Center for Biological Diversity condemned the ruling. It said the decision clears the way for contractors to bulldoze desert and dynamite canyon walls before courts decide whether the work is legal.
Source: The Guardian
