WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� A federal judge is allowing the Department of Homeland Security to go ahead for now with plans through a levee system protecting a small Texas town on the border with Mexico, rejecting arguments by the town that the wall could lead to flooding.
The decision late Sunday marks a victory for the Trump administration as it races ahead with efforts to build a $46 billion wall along the U.S.-Mexico border from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.
The town of Presidio, with a population of about 3,200 people, argued the wall could cause flooding and that the administration isn鈥檛 following the law as . The town鈥檚 development district sued earlier this year to stop the department from going forward with construction.
But the judge said in his ruling Sunday that they were unlikely to succeed on the merits of the case.
鈥淔or the foregoing reasons, despite the understandable concerns expressed by the plaintiff regarding the harms it and the plaintiff鈥檚 residents might sustain by the potential construction of the Smart Wall, the Court is compelled to deny the plaintiff鈥檚 motion for a stay,鈥� wrote Judge Reggie B. Walton.
DHS has been charging forward with its wall-building plan with senior administration officials saying a first layer of the structure will be done by next year. In its push, the Secretary of Homeland Security has waived numerous regulations designed to protect the environment, wildlife, archaeological and Native American sites.
But the department has been running into environmental groups, who argue that the government鈥檚 rapid construction endangers environmental and religious sites and a way of life along the border. Opponents also question the urgency to finish the wall when migrant crossings from Mexico are already at extreme lows.
Lawyers for Presidio’s development district argued in a court hearing that the government鈥檚 plans could compromise the levee system protecting the town from flash flooding and that the government flouted a key act that requires it to seek permission from the Army Corps of Engineers before building on or near the levees.
鈥淲e 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,” said the town’s development district in a statement Monday.
Presidio is protected by a series of berms and levees built in the 1970s and 1980s along the Rio Grande and tributaries to combat flooding.
In court documents, Presidio鈥檚 development district said Customs and Border Protection plans to 鈥渞eplace the earthen slope of the existing levee with a concrete wall, with 30-foot steel bollard panels installed on top.鈥� The district said it asked the agency for more details but was told they can鈥檛 be shared due to 鈥渘ational security.鈥�
The government has argued that there is no final plan for where the border wall will go or how it will be built. And the administration has maintained that it has the authority given to it by Congress to waive a vast swath of regulations to build the wall as it seeks to get the number of people crossing the border every day to zero.
In his ruling, the judge bolstered that argument, saying that it was clear “that Congress did not intend to limit the Secretary of DHS鈥檚 waiver authority.”
The government is also facing another lawsuit in Texas where an environmental group and a church preservation group have teamed up to oppose DHS鈥檚 plans.
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