U.S. courts rule for border walls both public and private
WASHINGTON • Crews could start building a private border wall in South Texas within the coming days after a federal judge’s ruling Thursday that lifted a restraining order against the project.
U.S. District Judge Randy Crane’s order was the second federal ruling in two days in favor of border barriers. On Wednesday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a lower court’s stay that had prevented President Donald Trump’s administration from diverting $3.6 billion from military construction projects to fund 175 miles of border wall.
While the White House on Thursday celebrated the appeals court’s ruling, saying it rightfully lifted an “illegitimate nationwide injunction,” Crane’s ruling went against the U.S. government’s position.
Fisher Industries, a North Dakota-based construction firm, wants to install 3 miles of steel posts about 35 feet from the U.S. bank of the Rio Grande, the river that forms the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. The company’s president, Tommy Fisher, wants to spend $40 million on the private border wall — originally promoted by a pro-Trump online fundraising group — to prove that his company can build barriers more effectively.
The U.S. government sued to stop Fisher on the grounds that building so close to the Rio Grande risked changing the flow of the river and potentially pushing floodwaters into Mexico, in violation of treaty obligations. The U.S. attorney’s office argued the project could shift the river and the international boundary, which violated the president’s authority “to conduct the foreign relations of the United States.”
Existing segments of fencing and the small sections that the government is building typically run along the Rio Grande levee or through property a significant distance away from the river. The U.S. is currently working to seize private land to build more sections of wall in Texas.
Crane issued a restraining order in December, but lifted that order Thursday. He also declined to grant a restraining order at the request of the National Butterfly Center, a nonprofit located next to the South Texas construction site.
The butterfly center and environmentalists warn building a border barrier so close to the river could worsen erosion and potentially damage other land.
At the 5th Circuit, the 2-1 ruling allows the government to move forward with 11 projects in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
Government contractors erect a section of Pentagon-funded border wall along the Colorado River in Yuma, Ariz., in September. The White House says construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall will move forward after a federal appeals court ruling that frees up construction money.