WASHINGTON— The U.S. Supreme Court today lifted a federal court order that halted border barrier and road construction across the Big Bend region of Texas for the past month, allowing the Trump administration to resume construction in Big Bend National Park and along more than 500 miles of the Rio Grande. The administration could also begin construction in Big Bend Ranch State Park.

The Supreme Court ruling suspends the district court’s injunction while the lawsuit proceeds. It is not a final ruling on the legality of the sweeping waiver of environmental laws.

“The Trump administration and its contractors are hellbent on destroying one of America’s greatest national parks, and the Supreme Court just gave them the green light,” said Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This horrific decision clears the way for contractors to bulldoze pristine desert and dynamite canyon walls before the courts have even decided whether this destruction is legal. They’re signing off on the permanent destruction of the wildest place in Texas, and the theft of a great American river from all of us.”

The injunction, issued Oct. 2 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. Their lawsuit challenges 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 suit says the waivers violate the major questions doctrine, which requires explicit congressional approval for actions with vast economic and political consequences.

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

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

“The destruction we’ve already seen in Big Bend unleashed a firestorm of outrage so severe that the administration was forced to pause its plans,” said Jordahl. “If the bulldozers return now, public opposition will only grow. Americans care deeply about this extraordinary national park and they won’t stand by quietly if its irreplaceable landscapes are butchered and paved over. The damage done to Big Bend will be felt for future generations of Texans and Americans, and this administration will bear responsibility for the natural heritage we lose.”

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 have 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.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn voiced his opposition to border wall construction through Big Bend in an op-ed published today in the San Antonio Express-News.

The Big Bend Sector covers 517 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, amounting to more than a quarter of the border’s total length. The region saw just 1.3% of total border apprehensions in 2025. Within Big Bend National Park, apprehensions accounted for 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.