How Texas landowners are fighting back against Trump's border wall

The Trump administration is pushing forward with a $46 billion border wall from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico

RUIDOSA, Texas -- The message from the Trump administration has been clear: It is moving ahead with a $46 billion border wall project stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.

But in Texas’ Big Bend region, the administration has run up against intense opposition from landowners , many of whom are unwilling to cede parts of their property for what they see as a waste of taxpayer dollars.

That resistance is complicating President Donald Trump’s signature infrastructure project in a fight that has become a test of just how far the administration will go to fulfill its vision of a fortified southern border.

The administration has committed billions of dollars and waived environmental and other protections to plow ahead with the project despite the region’s historically low illegal crossings, its formidable natural barriers and a surge of bipartisan opposition that has scrambled traditional border politics.

The federal government has sweeping authority to force the project through. But a judge has now paused construction across the region, giving a major boost to landowners who have sought to impede the wall by refusing to cooperate with government surveyors, protesting at county meetings and gearing up for court battles.

“Landowner resistance has slowed this project to a crawl,” said David Keller, a landowner suing to stop the Big Bend border plans. The administration, he added, was “woefully unprepared for the hornet’s nest they stirred up.”

Building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border has long been a key campaign promise for Trump. And the administration pushed ahead with it after Republicans last year approved $46 billion for the border wall as part of a sweeping immigration enforcement package.

Although illegal crossings have plummeted under Trump, the administration says walls, vehicle barriers, surveillance technology and patrol roads are needed to keep them low.

Customs and Border Protection says it’s building an average of about 12 miles or 20 kilometers of barrier a week and had recently hit a milestone of more than 200 miles (320 km) of new walls built under the second Trump administration.

In Big Bend, where construction began in September , the administration plans to spend $7.5 billion to fortify the border along a region stretching more than 500 miles (800 km).

In August, the Border Patrol arrested 8,870 people along the southern border. In Big Bend, which makes up roughly one quarter of the entire U.S.-Mexico border, it arrested 161.

“The American people have already seen the consequences of an unprotected border," said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott after a lawsuit filed by landowners against the Big Bend project. “We cannot allow any region — including Big Bend — to be exploited again.”

Unlike in other border areas, much of the land in Texas is privately or state owned.