A federal judge has cleared the way for the Department of Homeland Security to advance its border wall construction plans through a levee system protecting Presidio, Texas, a town of approximately 3,200 residents located along the U.S.-Mexico border. The decision represents progress for the Trump administration’s effort to build a $46 billion wall structure extending from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.
Presidio’s development district had filed a lawsuit earlier in the year seeking to prevent construction, contending that the wall could compromise the levee system protecting the community from flash flooding and that federal officials were circumventing legal requirements. Specifically, lawyers for the town argued that the government had not obtained necessary permission from the Army Corps of Engineers before proceeding with construction affecting the levees. The town’s district stated its disappointment with the ruling while pledging continued commitment to safeguarding the Big Bend area and residents dependent on the levee infrastructure.
The levees protecting Presidio were constructed during the 1970s and 1980s along the Rio Grande and its tributaries. According to court documents, the Border Patrol’s Customs and Protection division plans to replace the earthen slope of the existing levee with a concrete wall topped with 30-foot steel bollard panels. When the town’s district requested additional specifics about the project, officials declined to provide them citing national security considerations.
The Trump administration has maintained that Congress granted it authority to waive numerous regulations to expedite the wall’s completion, with officials stating that the first structural layer will be finished by the following year. In his ruling, the judge determined that Congress did not intend to restrict the Secretary of Homeland Security’s waiver authority. The administration faces opposition from landowners, environmental organizations, Native American tribes and others who contend that rapid construction threatens environmental and religious sites as well as border communities’ ways of life.
The government also contends that it has not finalized plans for the wall’s precise location or construction methods. Additional litigation is underway involving an environmental group and a church preservation organization opposing the department’s plans elsewhere in Texas.
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