A federal court has rejected a request to pause Homeland Security construction plans near Presidio, Texas, allowing the Trump administration to proceed while the town challenges the project’s potential effect on flood-control levees.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A federal judge has allowed the Department of Homeland Security to continue preparations for a border wall through a levee system protecting Presidio, Texas, rejecting the town’s request to halt the project over concerns that construction could increase the risk of flooding.
The late-Sunday ruling gives the Trump administration a legal victory as it moves forward with a $46 billion plan to build a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.
Presidio, a border community of approximately 3,200 residents, argued that the proposed wall could weaken or obstruct the levees that protect the town from flash floods. The community’s development district also contended that federal officials were advancing the project without complying with laws governing construction near flood-control structures.
The district sued earlier this year and asked the court to suspend the work while its legal challenge proceeds.
U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton acknowledged the potential consequences raised by the town but concluded that the court could not grant the requested stay.
“For the foregoing reasons, despite the understandable concerns expressed by the plaintiff regarding the harms it and the plaintiff’s residents might sustain by the potential construction of the Smart Wall, the Court is compelled to deny the plaintiff’s motion for a stay,” Walton wrote.
The decision permits DHS to continue its border construction effort for now, though the underlying lawsuit remains unresolved.
Senior administration officials have said the first layer of the new border structure is expected to be completed next year. In order to accelerate construction, the homeland security secretary has waived numerous federal requirements involving environmental protection, wildlife, archaeological resources and American Indian sites.
Attorneys representing Presidio’s development district argued during a court hearing that the government’s proposal could compromise the system of berms and levees surrounding the community. They also said federal officials had disregarded a law requiring approval from the Army Corps of Engineers before construction occurs on or near federally regulated levees.
“We are very disappointed that the court will allow this potentially disastrous construction to continue, but we remain committed to protecting the Big Bend area and those who rely on the threatened levees,” the development district said in a statement Monday.
Presidio’s flood defenses were built during the 1970s and 1980s along the Rio Grande and nearby tributaries. The network was designed to protect residents and property from sudden flooding in the border region.
According to court filings, Customs and Border Protection intends to “replace the earthen slope of the existing levee with a concrete wall, with 30-foot steel bollard panels installed on top.”
The development district said it sought additional engineering and construction information from the agency but was told that the details could not be released because of “national security.”
Federal attorneys responded that the government has not yet adopted a final plan specifying the precise location or design of the wall in the Presidio area.
The Trump administration has also argued that Congress granted the homeland security secretary broad authority to waive legal and regulatory requirements when necessary to expedite border construction.
Walton’s ruling supported that interpretation.
The judge wrote that it was clear “that Congress did not intend to limit the Secretary of DHS’s waiver authority.”
The administration has said the accelerated construction program is part of its effort to reduce illegal border crossings to zero. Supporters contend that the broad waiver power is necessary to prevent environmental reviews, permitting disputes and other regulatory processes from delaying projects considered essential to border security.
Presidio’s development district maintains that those waivers should not permit construction that could endanger the town’s flood protections or proceed without adequate engineering review.
DHS is also defending its plans in a separate Texas lawsuit filed by an environmental organization and a church preservation group. Those plaintiffs are challenging proposed construction on environmental and historic-preservation grounds.
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