(AFP) – A US federal judge on Friday issued an emergency injunction blocking President Donald Trump’s administration from restarting border barrier and road construction across the Big Bend region in Texas. The Department of Homeland Security plans to build vehicle barriers, patrol roads, lighting, and detection technology in and around Big Bend National Park, known for its spectacular views and rich biodiversity, including hundreds of bird species, bobcats, and black bears.
“Effective immediately and until the Court orders otherwise, Defendants SHALL NOT build border barrier or related infrastructure, or engage in any construction or ground disturbing activities, in the Big Bend Sector until and unless Defendants comply with all applicable laws,” Judge Kathleen Cardone wrote in her order.
An underlying lawsuit filed by Friends of the Ruidosa Church, the Center for Biological Diversity, and a Big Bend-area river guide and landowner challenges the federal government’s decision to waive dozens of laws in order to fast-track the $1.7 billion project across Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, and the wider region.
“This is a historic victory,” Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, told AFP. “The fight’s not over, but today’s injunction is a win for people and wildlife across West Texas and across the country, and it proves that no president can bulldoze a national park for political theater and expect to get away with it.”
Bulldozers broke ground in August on the public lands that blend desert, river, and mountain ecosystems and are home to the famed Santa Elena Canyon, before Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott announced a pause following fierce local opposition that crossed party lines. But the CBP had said in a court filing this week that the pause had lapsed on September 30 and work would soon resume.
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