A federal judge in El Paso on Friday blocked the Trump administration from building border wall barriers across Texas's Big Bend region, issuing an emergency injunction that halts construction in and around Big Bend National Park.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone ruled after a Friday hearing that the plaintiffs — the Friends of the Ruidosa Church, the Center for Biological Diversity, and river guide Billy Miller — were likely to succeed in their lawsuit and would suffer irreparable harm if construction continued, according to The Guardian. The ruling blocks Department of Homeland Security waivers that had suspended dozens of environmental and historical protection laws to fast-track building.
The injunction bars Customs and Border Protection from border security infrastructure construction or ground disturbance in the region unless it complies with the federal laws DHS had tried to suspend. Work must stop effective immediately, per Inside Climate News.
CBP had already awarded five contracts for Big Bend totaling more than $6 billion to expand what the agency calls the "smart wall" — a mix of 30-foot steel bollard fencing, vehicle barriers, and surveillance technology. Congress included $46.5 billion for border wall construction in last year's spending bill, leading CBP to focus heavily on Big Bend, which contains the longest unwalled stretch along the southern border.
The ruling came after images in August showed bulldozers plowing ground for new roads at Big Bend National Park, drawing national outrage and prompting CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott to temporarily halt construction. Construction resumed in September before Friday's injunction stopped it again.
The Guardian reported that the ruling "deals a major blow to the Trump administration's efforts to expand the border wall through west Texas at breakneck pace, while riding roughshod over the objections of local business owners, landowners, public land advocates and politicians from both parties."
Reuters posted about the ruling on X: "Judge bars building of Texas-Mexico border barrier in Big Bend National Park."
The case now proceeds through the courts, with CBP barred from continuing construction until it complies with the suspended laws. The project has not been canceled, but construction is on hold indefinitely.
Federal officials had warned that barriers elsewhere along the border could push illegal crossings into the Big Bend region, an area that has seen increased traffic as other sectors tighten. The Trump administration has made border wall completion a centerpiece of its second-term agenda, alongside mass deportation and border security.
The ruling drew sharp reactions online, with critics calling it a "historic victory" while supporters of the wall pointed to the national security implications of leaving a 100-plus-mile stretch unfortified.
Our Take
Let's be clear about what just happened: a single federal judge in El Paso just handed a major victory to the open-borders crowd and put a 100-mile hole in the southern border.
Judge Cardone's ruling blocks construction of 30-foot steel barriers and vehicle barriers across Big Bend — the longest unwalled stretch on the entire southern border. This isn't about protecting a church or a river guide. It's about stopping President Trump from finishing the wall.
The plaintiffs — the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, and a river guide — sued to overturn DHS waivers that Congress explicitly authorized to speed construction. These waivers have been used by both Republican and Democratic administrations for years. Now a judge says the administration can't use them.
What does this mean for everyday Americans? It means more illegal crossings, more drug trafficking, more human smuggling in an area that had been slated for serious fortification. It means the $6 billion already awarded in contracts sits idle while the courts sort it out. It means the men and women of CBP who were finally getting the tools they need are told to stand down.
And it means that the fight over the border wall is not over — it's just moved to the courts, where the deep state and its allies in the legal system have found yet another way to block Trump's agenda.
The question now: how long will this injunction hold, and how many more miles of border will remain open while the lawyers fight?
