Latest Court Ruling Allows for Continued Construction of US/Mexico Border Wall

Overturning an earlier federal district court ruling in El Paso, an appeals court has ruled in favor of allowing the Trump Administration to continue construction of a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

In December of 2019, US District Judge David Briones for the Western District of Texas ruled that it was illegal for funding intended for more than one hundred military base construction projects to be diverted for the controversial wall project.

In handing down that decision, Broines, responding to a suit filed by the Border Network for Human Rights, said border security could not “override the public’s interest in the executive branch complying with the law.”

The El Paso-based Border Network is an immigration reform and human rights advocacy group.

The Border Network group had additionally claimed that it suffered financially as a result of the funding diversion due to the fact that it was forced to “divert time and resources to help its members deal with the harmful effects of border wall construction.”

At the time of the Western Texas District ruling, the Trump Administration had transferred just over $3.6 billion in military funds to continue construction along the border.

Now, in a 2 to 1 decision, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has sided with the White House, declaring that the Border Network group had failed to establish that the wall construction project had “perceptibly impaired” its mission.

The court added that the Border Network group also did not demonstrate whether any of the funds it spent to educate members on the wall construction project would have gone for another purpose.
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It is thought that ultimately legal challenges against the transfer of funds for the wall project will end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.

By Garry Boulard

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