MARFA, Texas — Six Texas landowners and the nonprofit Conserve Big Bend, representing another 230 landowners, sued the Trump administration Monday over plans to seize private property for border wall construction in the Big Bend region.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., names the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott as defendants.
The plaintiffs seek an injunction to stop border wall construction throughout the Big Bend region, including planned steel vehicle barriers and roads inside Big Bend National Park.
The lawsuit also alleges that the federal government violated landowners’ Fifth Amendment due process rights.
Landowners challenge federal waivers
The lawsuit challenges federal waivers that DHS issued earlier this year to speed construction in the Big Bend Sector.
The waivers classified the 517-mile Big Bend Sector as an area of “high illegal entry” and allowed the government to bypass dozens of federal laws involving environmental protection, public health, cultural resources and historic preservation.
The plaintiffs argue that the region does not meet the requirements for those waivers.
CBP data show that the Big Bend Sector accounted for less than 1.5% of all apprehensions along the U.S.-Mexico border during the past five years.
The proposed border infrastructure includes 30-foot-high steel bollard walls, vehicle barriers, patrol roads, lighting, cameras and other technology across private, state and federal land along the Rio Grande.
Coalition represents 230 landowners
The lawsuit represents the latest legal challenge to the administration’s border wall plans in the Big Bend region.
Landowners began receiving eminent domain notices from DHS in February. Opposition has included landowners, river guides and some Republican sheriffs who have raised concerns about the effect of border barriers on the region’s landscape and tourism economy.
The No Big Bend Wall coalition formed in April to provide legal resources to affected landowners. The group now represents 230 landowners across five counties, according to the organization.
David Keller, a landowner and one of the lawsuit’s six plaintiffs, said local residents have resisted access agreements and that construction schedules have fallen behind.
Keller said contractors have left the area as landowners continue to oppose the project.
Conserve Big Bend board member Clara Bensen said the lawsuit takes a narrower approach than earlier challenges to the federal waivers because it focuses specifically on whether DHS can authorize wall construction in the Big Bend region.
Landowners cite impact on ranches
Lico Miller, a member of the landowner coalition, said a proposed 30-foot-high wall would cross a ranch near Ruidosa, Texas, that his wife’s family has owned for generations.
Miller said the barrier could separate the ranch’s lower farmland and pastures from the Rio Grande, which provides water that supports the property’s ranching and farming operations.
He said he hopes the lawsuit can delay construction and restore federal environmental, cultural and historic preservation protections that the waivers removed.
The federal government has awarded more than $7 billion for border barrier projects in the Big Bend Sector, according to Marfa Public Radio.
The court has 60 days to respond to the lawsuit. DHS and CBP did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Landowners and Conserve Big Bend continue to oppose the project as the federal government pursues its broader “Smart Wall” plans along the southern border.