EL PASO, Texas— A federal judge today issued an emergency injunction to block border barrier and road construction across the Big Bend region. The injunction will remain in place while the court considers a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s sweeping waiver of environmental laws and other laws to fast-track construction.

“This is a historic victory for Big Bend and everyone who loves this wild corner of Texas,” said Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “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.”

Today’s emergency injunction, issued from the bench by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone, was sought by the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Ruidosa Church and a Big Bend-area river guide and landowner, all plaintiffs in the underlying lawsuit challenging the federal government’s waiver of dozens of laws to fast-track border barrier construction through Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park and across the Big Bend region.

The waiver marked the first time in U.S. history that the federal government has cast aside a broad slate of environmental laws — including the National Park Service Organic Act, Endangered Species Act and National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act — inside a national park.

Bulldozers started tearing into Big Bend National Park near the iconic Santa Elena Canyon on Aug. 6 and were documented plowing new routes for vehicle barriers into both the east and west sides of Mariscal Mountain. Contractors have stockpiled heavy equipment across the Big Bend region, where staging yards have been cleared, worker camps built and water wells drilled.

In response to widespread nonpartisan outrage, Customs and Border Protection announced a pause in construction activities on Aug. 17. That pause lapsed Sept. 30 and without a preliminary injunction or action from Congress, work could have resumed at any moment.

According to Customs and Border Protection’s online map, the agency plans to build vehicle barriers and patrol roads across Big Bend National Park, including in rugged and remote areas such as Mariscal Mountain that would require extensive dynamite blasting. The plans also include building in remote walled canyons where no unauthorized vehicle crossings have been documented and where vehicles cannot access the border with Mexico.

More than 140 outfitters, local businesses and recreation groups urged Texas leaders to protect public access to the Rio Grande and halt the project. They warned that closing river access and building permanent barriers and roads through the canyon corridor would put river outfitters out of business and devastate the regional economy.

The Big Bend Sector covers 517 miles, or more than a quarter, of the U.S.-Mexico border. No unauthorized vehicle crossings have been documented in the region, which saw just 1.3% of total border apprehensions in 2025. Within Big Bend National Park, apprehensions accounted 0.045% of the national total. For decades the National Park Service and Customs and Border Protection have conducted border enforcement while preserving the park’s irreplaceable natural heritage and recreational opportunities.

The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys at the Center for Biological Diversity and Texas Civil Rights Project.