Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Lift Injunction on West Texas Border Wall Construction
The federal government has asked the Supreme Court to intervene and allow the resumption of border wall construction and related infrastructure through a remote area of West Texas, including Big Bend National Park.
In an emergency filing, the Justice Department urged the high court to lift a lower court injunction that temporarily prevents the Department of Homeland Security from building barriers or associated projects in the Big Bend Sector. The sector spans more than 500 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border and encompasses 77 Texas counties.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued in the filing that the district court’s injunction significantly impairs the government’s ability to halt the movement of unauthorized immigrants and drugs across the southern border. According to the filing, the Department of Homeland Security targeted the Big Bend project areas due to elevated rates of illegal crossings and drug smuggling over recent years. Government data submitted to the court indicate that more than 89,000 individuals were apprehended attempting to cross illegally into the United States within the Big Bend Sector between 2021 and 2025.
President Trump’s border wall initiative has remained a central component of his immigration platform over the past decade. However, plans for the West Texas region faced substantial pushback earlier this year from bipartisan lawmakers, cattle ranchers, and local law enforcement after social media footage revealed bulldozers arriving at Big Bend National Park. In response to the public backlash, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott temporarily paused construction inside the park through the end of September. Customs and Border Protection officials have stated that the proposed wall will not cut directly through Big Bend National Park, though other infrastructure—including patrol roads, detection technology, and roughly 17 miles of vehicle barriers—will be located there.
Construction on a 47-mile stretch of wall in the Big Bend region commenced last month, according to Customs and Border Protection. The federal government has awarded contracts for five distinct border-barrier projects along that portion of the southern border. The Department of Homeland Security initially announced the project in February, detailing plans for 30-foot-tall bollard walls stretching from Fort Quitman to Closed Canyon in Big Bend Ranch State Park, with walls and roads spanning more than 300 miles.
Federal projects impacting cultural, recreational, wildlife, and environmental resources typically require compliance with federal environmental protection and historic preservation laws before proceeding. However, when then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the initiative earlier this year, she invoked a 1996 federal immigration law empowering the secretary to waive legal requirements necessary to expedite physical barrier construction near the southern border to deter crossings in high-entry zones. Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who succeeded Noem following her departure, subsequently issued two additional waivers authorizing Customs and Border Protection to proceed with the barrier systems.
Legal challenges followed in April when an environmental nonprofit, a professional riverboat guide, and a religious organization dedicated to preserving the Sacred Heart of the Church of Jesus along the Rio Grande filed a lawsuit to halt the administration’s project. Plaintiffs argued in court filings that the Big Bend Sector ranks lowest for apprehensions among the seven sectors along the southern border, accounting for between 0.3% and 2.2% of total border-wide apprehensions annually despite covering more than 25% of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone ruled in favor of the challengers, granting a preliminary injunction that barred the Department of Homeland Security from constructing barriers, related infrastructure, or conducting ground-disturbing activities in the Big Bend Sector. Cardone concluded that Noem and Mullin exceeded their legal authority when issuing the waivers between February and July. Following that ruling, Cardone rejected a subsequent administration request to pause her decision, prompting the Justice Department to seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court.
