US Supreme Court allows border wall in Big Bend National Park to proceed

A lawsuit had sought to block border wall construction in the Big Bend National Park by targeting the waivers that sidestep environmental protections. The United States Supreme Court has allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to build a border wall through a remote section of Big Bend National Park in West Texas.

In its decision on Monday, the court granted the government’s emergency request to lift a lower court’s injunction that had paused construction while the matter was litigated. The injunction, it said, “impedes the Government from advancing its ‘compelling interests’ in border security and integrity”.

During his first successful bid for the presidency in 2016, for instance, he rallied supporters with chants of “Build the wall!” But the push to expand the border barrier through the popular national park has met pushback from conservationists, local officials and some members of Trump’s own Republican Party. Big Bend National Park includes mountain ranges and desert that serve as a home to endangered species like the Mexican long-nosed bat.