Federal Judge Pauses Trump's Border Infrastructure Project in Big Bend National Park

United States District Judge Kathleen Cardone issued an emergency injunction blocking the Trump administration from continuing work to construct vehicle barriers, patrol roads, and accompanying lighting in the West Texas Big Bend Sector. The ruling, handed down in El Paso on Friday, also halts any construction or ground disturbance within Big Bend National Park in remote West Texas.

Cardone issued the order after considering witness testimony in a case brought against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin by Friends of the Ruidosa Church et al. The case challenges the federal government’s use of waiver authority related to environmental law to speed completion of the project.

Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, issued a statement on the injunction, saying, “This is a historic victory for Big Bend and everyone who loves this wild corner of Texas. No administration has the right to destroy a crown-jewel national park for political theatre. With a federal court ordering the bulldozers to stop, Big Bend gets to breathe. But this fight is far from over. We won’t rest until Big Bend’s environmental protections are fully restored and the illegal waiver that allowed so much destruction is gone for good.”

Another plaintiff in the lawsuit is a Big Bend river guide and landowner. The lawsuit challenges the federal government’s waiver process used to construct border security infrastructure within Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, and throughout the Big Bend Region.

In her ruling, Judge Cardone wrote, “The Court finds that Plaintiffs are 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 favor.”

Cardone’s instruction to the federal government included the following: “Effective immediately and until the Court orders otherwise, Defendants SHALL NOT build border barrier or related infrastructure, or engage in any construction or ground-disturbing activities, in the Big Bend Sector until and unless Defendants comply with all applicable laws.”

As Breitbart Texas reported, in mid-August, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott paused the infrastructure projects underway within Big Bend National Park.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle had been closely scrutinizing the projects, Breitbart Texas reported. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) joined local politicians and James Talarico, the Democratic nominee in Texas’s 2026 U.S. Senate race, in opposing the border security enhancements.

The installation of physical barriers within the state has also proven unpopular with ranchers outside the park. Many private landowners have met the projects with skepticism, and many hold large tracts of land and worry about losing access to parts of their property because of border barrier construction. Ranchers also worry that increased federal presence on their property will affect livestock and hunting.

CBP has clarified that its infrastructure plans within Big Bend National Park would involve only constructing one new access road, improving existing roads, installing detection technology, and placing vehicle barriers in limited, strategic locations.

According to CBP, the work would not include building a 30-foot border wall in the park.

President George W. Bush appointed Judge Cardone as a district judge in the Western District of Texas in 2003.

The case is styled “Friends of the Ruidosa Church et al. v. Mullin et al. (Case No. 3:26-cv-01099-KC)” in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol.  Before retiring, he served as Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.