Landowners in Texas ask court to stop Trump border wall

Indigenous groups, environmentalists, and locals in several states have opposed the border wall construction.

Landowners and other supporters hold signs against the Trump administration's plans to build a border wall and other infrastructure in Texas's remote Big Bend region, in Marfa, Texas, on September 14, 2026 [Rebecca Santana/AP]

A group of landowners, ranchers, businesses and a non-profit organisation have sued the administration of United States President Donald Trump to stop construction of a wall along the country’s border with Mexico in the remote Big Bend region of the southern state of Texas.

Trump officials “were woefully unprepared for the hornet’s nest they stirred up because they had no idea how much we love this place”, David Keller, an archaeologist and historian who specialises in the Big Bend and lives in the region, said in a news conference announcing the lawsuit on Monday.

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“For us, the Big Bend is not an empty place on the map,” he said. “It is our home.”

The lawsuit was filed by Conserve Big Bend and six landowners, with the support of dozens more people along the border.

It comes as the Trump administration is ramping up a $46bn effort to line the roughly 3,219km (2,000-mile) border with a collection of 9-metre (30-foot) steel bollard walls, vehicle barriers and technology intended to keep out smugglers and migrants.

In Arizona, federal officials are pushing ahead with construction of the border infrastructure, even though it cuts through land belonging to the Tohono O’odham Nation, an Indigenous tribe that has said it does not want the barrier and that it is unnecessary.

In Texas, the effort has run up against numerous lawsuits and bipartisan opposition from sheriffs, elected officials, tour guides, environmental groups and landowners.

As part of its wall-building efforts, the administration has waived numerous regulations and statutes designed to protect the environment, archaeology or wildlife, on the basis that there is an urgent need to protect the border in what the US Department of Homeland Security has called areas of “high illegal entry”.

But in the lawsuit announced on Monday, the plaintiffs argue that when it comes to the Big Bend region, that is not an accurate description. They cite historical statistics from US Customs and Border Protection showing how few people cross the border in Big Bend compared with other areas along the US-Mexico border.

Big Bend has about 805km (500 miles) of border, roughly one quarter of the total length of the border with Mexico from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. But the region accounted for only about 1 percent of arrests, according to the lawsuit.

多个州的土著团体、环保人士和当地居民都反对修建边境墙。

2026年9月14日，在德克萨斯州马尔法，土地所有者和其他支持者举着标语，反对特朗普政府在德克萨斯州偏远的大弯地区修建边境墙和其他基础设施的计划。[Rebecca Santana/AP]

一群土地所有者、牧场主、企业和一家非营利组织起诉美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的政府，要求停止在德克萨斯州南部偏远的大弯地区沿美墨边境修建隔离墙。

专门研究大弯地区的考古学家兼历史学家大卫·凯勒（David Keller）周一在新闻发布会上宣布提起诉讼时表示，特朗普政府官员“完全没有预料到会捅马蜂窝，因为他们根本不知道我们有多爱这个地方”。

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政府报告显示，美国边境墙建设破坏了三处原住民墓地，这是其中三处。

“对我们来说，大弯地区不是地图上的一片空白地带，”他说。“那是我们的家。”

该诉讼由大弯保护组织和六位土地所有者提起，并得到了边境沿线数十人的支持。

与此同时，特朗普政府正加紧一项耗资 460 亿美元的计划，在长约 3219 公里（2000 英里）的边境线上建造一系列 9 米（30 英尺）高的钢柱墙、车辆屏障和旨在阻止走私者和移民的技术。

在亚利桑那州，联邦官员正在推进边境基础设施的建设，尽管该基础设施穿过属于托霍诺奥丹民族的土地，该民族是一个原住民部落，他们表示不希望修建隔离墙，而且认为隔离墙没有必要。

在德克萨斯州，这项努力遭遇了多起诉讼，并遭到警长、民选官员、导游、环保组织和土地所有者的两党反对。

作为修建边境墙工作的一部分，政府以迫切需要保护边境为由，豁免了许多旨在保护环境、考古或野生动物的法规和法令，而美国国土安全部称这些地区是“非法入境高发区”。

但在周一公布的诉讼中，原告辩称，就大弯地区而言，这种描述并不准确。他们引用了美国海关和边境保护局的历史统计数据，数据显示，与美墨边境其他地区相比，经由大弯地区越境的人数要少得多。

大弯区拥有约805公里（500英里）的边境线，大约占从太平洋到墨西哥湾与墨西哥接壤的总边境线长度的四分之一。但根据诉讼文件，该地区的逮捕人数仅占总数的1%左右。