Border-wall legal waivers challenged

HOUSTON — Environmental groups filed another lawsuit Thursday challenging the Trump administration’s use of waivers to speed up construction of a border wall, this time in Texas.

Three groups sued the Department of Homeland Security, a week after the agency waived environmental laws along a 25-mile stretch of border in the Rio Grande Valley, which is the southernmost point of Texas.

Lawsuits also have been filed to stop construction in California and New Mexico. So far, no judges have stopped DHS from moving forward with construction, though a federal appeals court heard arguments in California’s case in August.

In Texas, the government wants to connect existing sections of fencing on river levees in Hidalgo County and to close other gaps in fencing in neighboring Cameron County. It says more barriers are needed to stop the flow of drugs and immigrants.

Environmental groups say DHS is wrongly using authority that it received in 2005 for specific projects to waive reviews under more than two dozen laws, including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.

Jean Su, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, argued that when the previous border fence was built, Congress gave DHS the authority to issue waivers. But the waivers were not meant to automatically carry over to future projects, she said.

“It will be a longer process, but that process is a basic part of our democratic system and the protection of our environment,” Su said.

Advocates warn that the construction would cut through the nonprofit National Butterfly Center and local heritage sites. Because sections would be built north of the Rio Grande, it would also effectively consign some U.S. land to Mexico’s side.