The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to lift a court order that stopped border wall construction across the Big Bend region of Texas.
The government filed an emergency appeal asking the justices to throw out a lower court ruling that halted the project, a setback for one of President Donald Trump’s signature efforts. The administration has been pushing to build walls, barriers, and surveillance infrastructure along the entire southern border, from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.
The appeal targets a decision by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone, who on October 2 ordered the government to stop construction across the roughly 500-mile Big Bend project area while a lawsuit plays out. That stretch covers about a quarter of the entire U.S.-Mexico border.
The whole fight comes down to a set of waivers signed by the Secretary of Homeland Security. Those waivers let Customs and Border Protection skip environmental rules and other regulations that would normally slow a project this big down.
The government says a law dating back to 1996 hands the secretary that power whenever it is needed to build barriers in areas of high illegal entry. It argues Big Bend qualifies and that leaving a gap there could simply funnel illegal crossings into the region once the rest of the border is walled off.
Opponents argue the 1996 law only allows those sweeping waivers in places that actually see heavy illegal crossings, and they say the remote, rugged Big Bend does not fit that description. Cardone agreed, finding the challengers were likely to win their argument that the waivers went beyond what the law allows.
Because of how the 1996 statute is written, a challenge to Cardone’s order skips the usual appeals court and goes straight to the Supreme Court. The Justice Department had warned the judge it would take the case to the high court if she did not pause her own order, and she declined.
The opposition in Big Bend has been building for months among ranchers, residents, business owners, and environmentalists, many of whom say the project is a waste of money in an area with historically low illegal immigration. It escalated in August when bulldozers were spotted clearing land inside Big Bend National Park.
The administration has said it will not build a large wall inside the national park itself but is still planning construction elsewhere across the region.
