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Court prohibits Trump administration from building border wall in Texas’ Big Bend region, for now

Americas 5 sources 2 countries 7m ago

A federal court in Texas on Friday issued a ruling temporarily blocking the Trump administration from building a border wall and other infrastructure across the state's Big Bend region, in a victory for opponents who have pushed back against what has long been a key campaign promise by President Donald Trump. WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal court in Texas on Friday issued a ruling temporarily blocking the Trump administration from building a border wall and other infrastructure across the state's Big Bend region, in a victory for opponents who have pushed back against what has long been a key campaign promise by President Donald Trump.Landowners, businesses and environmentalists in the region have united to oppose the planned infrastructure projects, which are part of a $46 billion effort by the Trump administration to line the southern border with a mix of 30-foot-tall steel walls, vehicle barriers, roads and surveillance technology.The judge's ruling includes Big Bend National Park, which sits on a bend of the Rio Grande River, but also extends across the entire, roughly 500-mile-long Big Bend sector, which accounts for about a quarter of the roughly 2,000-mile-long southern border with Mexico.Judge Kathleen Cardone said in her ruling that the plaintiffs were “likely to succeed on the merits of at least one of the claims in suit, that there is a likelihood that they will suffer serious, irreparable harm without an injunction, and that the balance of the equities and the public interest weigh in their favor.”Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Opponents of the border wall project have argued that the Big Bend region of Texas is so remote and the landscape so rugged that it serves as its own deterrent to illegal immigration and that the administration violated the law when it issued a swath of waivers allowing it to bypass numerous regulations in order to speed up border wall infrastructure projects.The lawsuit brought by an environmental organization, advocates for a historic church in Ruidosa and a river guide argued that the Department of Homeland Security was wrong to bypass regulations meant to protect the environment, culture, and archeology of regions like the Big Bend area.Laiken Jordahl, with the Center of Biological Diversity that brought the suit, called Cardone’s ruling a “total victory.”“The bulldozers are going to be sent packing until she rules on the merits,” Jordahl said. “This is such a historic day for Big Bend and for Texas and the Constitution.”The court's decision comes just weeks after the administration erected the first border wall panels in the Big Bend s…

A federal court in Texas has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from building a border wall in the Big Bend region The news marks a major win for landowners, businesses and environmentalists in the region who have united to oppose the planned infrastructure projects, which are part of a $46 billion effort by the Trump administration to line the southern border with a mix of 30-foot-tall steel walls, vehicle barriers, roads and surveillance technology. Judge Kathleen Cardone said in her ruling that the plaintiffs were “likely to succeed on the merits of at least one of the claims in suit, that there is a likelihood that they will suffer serious, irreparable harm without an injunction, and that the balance of the equities and the public interest weigh in their favor.” Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Customs and Border Protection paused all activity there, but that pause expired on September 30. WASHINGTON (AP) — Court prohibits Trump administration from building border wall in Texas’ Big Bend region, for now.

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