President Donald Trump’s administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to lift a construction halt across Texas’ Big Bend region, the Associated Press reported.
The emergency request challenges U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone’s October 2 injunction. The order suspended federal waivers for border barriers, roads and related infrastructure across a sector covering 517 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The dispute also carries a taxpayer cost. U.S. Customs and Border Protection estimated at least $462,800 in daily suspension costs across five projects, based on contractors’ rough projections, in an October 8 court filing.
The security argument
Leaving Big Bend without adequate border infrastructure could funnel illegal crossings and drug smuggling into the sector as enforcement strengthens elsewhere, federal attorneys argued in that filing.
They cited more than 89,000 apprehensions of illegal aliens across the sector during fiscal years 2021 through 2025. The administration maintains that Congress expressly authorized the homeland security secretary to waive legal requirements to speed border construction under a 1996 immigration law.
The projected daily costs include land leases, equipment maintenance, security and retaining workers, the government said. Those expenses would consume funds that could otherwise pay for construction.
The fight over federal power
Congress tied that authority to projects in “areas of high illegal entry,” Cardone wrote in an October 14 opinion explaining her injunction. She found that the challengers would likely show the Big Bend waivers exceeded the secretary’s authority.
The Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Ruidosa Church and river guide and landowner Danny William Miller Jr. brought the lawsuit. Their claims include harm to river access, livelihoods and the region’s landscape.
The government’s five-year apprehension total covers the entire sector. More recent annual figures show 3,096 apprehensions in fiscal 2025, down 74% from 11,823 in fiscal 2023, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
The construction plans also differ by location. Inside Big Bend National Park, CBP has described roads, detection technology and limited vehicle barriers. The agency said its plans did not include a 30-foot wall through the park, as DX’s earlier coverage explained.
Cardone’s preliminary injunction does not settle the lawsuit. It requires federal officials to comply with applicable laws before proceeding with construction, and the administration is asking the Supreme Court to lift that restriction.
