Border Wall Construction Halts at Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge After Lawsuit

A partially built segment of border wall runs along the edge of the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in Alamo, Texas, after construction was halted by a lawsuit. Work on the segment began in late July.

The refuge, spanning more than 2,000 acres (about 809 hectares), is a migration corridor for hundreds of thousands of birds and butterflies traveling to South America. It shelters armadillos, warblers, bats, snakes and two endangered cat species. Visitors walk its trails and take in views from a suspended bridge. An irrigation canal runs along the refuge's northern perimeter, linking water to farmland in the surrounding agricultural area.

Border Patrol agents patrol the dense foliage on bicycles and have set up a rescue beacon with a push button that signals for help, mostly used by hikers who lose their way on the winding trails. Border walls have been part of the landscape since the Bush and Obama administrations, built to deter illegal crossings.

In late July, the Trump administration began erecting additional wall. Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 2, which manages a canal near the refuge, filed a lawsuit last month, saying the construction company entered its property without consent and dumped "significant dirt" into its canal. An order paused construction until mid-October, and the case remains in litigation.

The lawsuit is one of several seeking to stop construction on protected or public lands as the administration pushes ahead with efforts to build a $46 billion wall along the U.S.-Mexico border from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. A lawsuit failed last month to halt construction in Presidio, Texas, after arguing the wall could cause flooding problems. In Southern Arizona, construction in late August pressed forward through a Native American tribe's reservation despite objections. In West Texas, construction in Big Bend National Park drew public outrage from both sides of the political aisle.