Texas court halts Trump border wall work in Big Bend

A federal court in Texas has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from building a border wall and other infrastructure in the state's Big Bend region. The ruling is a major relief for landowners, businesses and environmentalists who have joined hands against the project.

The planned works are part of the administration's USD 46 billion push to strengthen the southern border with a mix of 30-foot-tall steel walls, vehicle barriers, roads and surveillance technology. The court order came weeks after the first border wall panels were put up in the Big Bend sector in mid-September.

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."

Opponents of the project have argued that the Big Bend region is so remote and the terrain so rugged that it acts as its own deterrent to illegal immigration. They have also said the administration broke the law by issuing a series of waivers that allowed it to bypass several regulations to speed up the border wall infrastructure projects.

Laiken Jordahl of the Center for Biological Diversity, which 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."

Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. For now, the ruling has put the administration's border wall work in the Big Bend region on hold, handing a significant win to those opposing the project.