In a significant development, a federal court in Texas on Friday issued a ruling temporarily blocking the Trump administration from building a border wall and other infrastructure across the state’s Big Bend region.
Courtās ruling marks major win for landowners
The development marks a major win for landowners, businesses and environmentalists in the region who have united to oppose the planned infrastructure projects, which are part of a USD 46 billion effort by the Trump administration to line the southern border with a mix of 30-foot-tall steel walls, vehicle barriers, roads and surveillance technology.
During the hearing of the matter, Judge Kathleen Cardone said in her ruling that the plaintiffs were “likely to succeed on the merits of at least one of the claims in suit, that there is a likelihood that they will suffer serious, irreparable harm without an injunction, and that the balance of the equities and the public interest weigh in their favour.”
In this regard, the Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hereās what opponents of border wall project argue
However, the opponents of the border wall project have argued that the Big Bend region of Texas is so remote and the landscape so rugged that it serves as its own deterrent to illegal immigration and that the administration violated the law when it issued a swath of waivers allowing it to bypass numerous regulations in order to speed up border wall infrastructure projects.
Laiken Jordahl, with the Center of Biological Diversity that brought the suit, called Cardone’s ruling a “total victory.” “The bulldozers are going to be sent packing until she rules on the merits,” Jordahl said. “This is such a historic day for Big Bend and for Texas and the Constitution.” The federal court’s decision follows just weeks after the administration erected the first border wall panels in the Big Bend sector in the middle of September.
Trump says Iran will be hit ‘very hard’ if …
In another development, US President Donald Trump said that if Iran is linked to the copilot who tried to crash an Israel-bound flight, the Islamic Republic would be struck “very hard” for the attempt on the lives of more than 180 people aboard the jet.
The US president issued the warning as investigators worked to determine why the copilot stabbed the flight’s captain, causing the FlyDubai plane to plummet before others on board stopped the attack and landed the airliner in Saudi Arabia.
He was also asked by reporters at the White House whether he had been briefed about any links between the pilot behind the attack and Tehran. He said, “We’re working on it right now. I would say the answer, based on what I’m hearing, is yes, but we’re working on it right now,” Trump said.
With inputs from AP
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