The Trump administration on Thursday asked a federal judge to allow construction on border walls and other infrastructure to continue across the Big Bend region of West Texas.
The move comes less than a week after U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone ordered the immediate pause of all Big Bend area border construction and the use of federal waivers accelerating the project, which claim the region is an "area of high illegal entry."
In a court filing Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection asked the judge to suspend the previous order as the administration takes its case to the Supreme Court.
The Center for Biological Diversity, the Friends of the Ruidosa Church and a local river guide are suing the federal government over the project. The plaintiffs and several expert witnesses testified in a hearing in Cardone's courtroom last week about the harm the project will bring to the region — historically the least-trafficked sector along the entire southwest border.
In Thursday's filing, the administration said Cardone's order blocking construction was "unprecedented," illegal and would lead to costly delays for the government's border plans. The filing asks that the judge issue an opinion explaining why she ordered the construction pause next week.
CBP estimates it will "incur at least $462,800 per day" during the pause and that costs to pull workers and equipment out of the region and then send them back could amount to $7 million across the five Big Bend projects, the government's filing said.
"The government's compelling interests plainly outweigh whatever environmental, aesthetic and recreational injuries plaintiffs and their members may incur if the district court's injunction remains in place," the administration wrote.
The government also argued in Thursday's filing that any construction impacts to Big Bend National Park are "speculative" at this point because CBP is "actively considering" reducing the scope of the original border barrier project due to input from the National Park Service and other stakeholders.
Dustin Rynders, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project representing the plaintiffs in the case, said in a statement to Marfa Public Radio that the government's "hail mary" petition follows an "embarrassing" performance at the hearing, where it didn't call any witnesses and provided no evidence of high illegal entry in the Big Bend region or harm from a temporary construction pause.
"The government is reasserting arguments it has already made to the same judge," Rynders said. "The judge has already heard and rejected these arguments, and we are confident she will do the same now."
"We look forward to continuing to fight for Big Bend and our clients as the case progresses," he added.
Under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act — the law the DHS Secretary cited when waiving dozens of federal laws to expedite border wall construction in the Big Bend region — the district court's order, if challenged, must be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court, rather than the typical U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
The Trump administration wrote in Thursday's filing that the Office of the Solicitor General intends to seek Supreme Court review of Cardone's preliminary injunction, and if an immediate stay of the injunction is not ordered by the court the government will seek "expedited relief from the Supreme Court."
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