US supreme court clears way for Trump’s border wall in Texas’s Big Bend
The US Supreme Court has cleared the way for Donald Trump's administration to continue constructing a border wall in Texas's Big Bend region, including parts of Big Bend national park.
In an unsigned, five-page ruling, the nation's highest court granted the Trump administration's emergency request to suspend a lower court order that had temporarily stopped the project last month. Liberal justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only member of the nine-member court to dissent from the ruling.
Legal Justification
The justices wrote that the plaintiffs, which include the Center for Biological Diversity, a Big Bend river guide and a church preservation group, "claim that construction in the Big Bend sector will diminish their ability to use and enjoy the area". However, they noted that Congress's immigration law "reflects a clear preference for expeditious border construction over the very harms respondents assert."
The government's interest therefore outweighs any aesthetic, recreational, and environmental harm alleged by respondents.
Project Details
The Trump administration plans to construct more than 300 miles of six-foot-tall vehicle barriers and supporting roads, relying on a 1996 law that authorizes the homeland security secretary to "waive all legal requirements", including environmental protections. According to Rodney Scott, the CBP commissioner, 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.
Environmental Concerns
The plaintiffs argue that the project threatens wildlife and public lands, could destroy "iconic sections" of the Rio Grande's protected river corridor, and would undermine environmental protection laws. A Customs and Border Protections map shows plans for barriers across remote areas requiring extensive dynamite blasting in isolated canyons with no documented unauthorized crossings.
This horrific decision clears the way for contractors to bulldoze pristine desert and dynamite canyon walls before the courts have even decided whether this destruction is legal. They're signing off on the permanent destruction of the wildest place in Texas.
Local Opposition
The border wall plans have faced bipartisan opposition from local residents who warn that construction could threaten their livelihoods and disrupt their communities. CBP has awarded five contracts worth more than $6bn for border security upgrades in Big Bend, including 30-ft steel fencing and surveillance technology.
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