Federal lawyers say border wall could be rerouted through the Santa Ana wildlife refuge to settle a South Texas land fight

The federal government is weighing whether to build a stretch of border wall straight through the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in the Rio Grande Valley rather than along a levee next to it, The Texas Tribune reported Monday.

The possible change grew out of a lawsuit. Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 2, a public corporation that supplies water to cities, farmers and ranchers, says contractors building the wall went onto 60 feet of land it owns on each side of an irrigation canal without permission. The district sued two contractors working on the project.

A state district court in Hidalgo County issued a temporary restraining order on July 30, a federal judge extended it after the case was moved to federal court, and the order remains in place, according to the Tribune.

What was said in court

At an Oct. 14 hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lance Duke told the court his client was looking into moving the wall off the district's property and through the refuge instead. "We recognize that will probably just create additional litigation from other interested parties," Duke said, according to the Tribune.

The district's lawyer, Lance Kirby, had told the judge the dispute would be resolved if the wall were built 15 to 20 feet south of its current path. He called the government's statement "music to my ears."

U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not confirm that it is considering the change. A spokesperson told the Tribune the agency "remains committed to enhancing border security" at the refuge and is confident in its legal authority. The agency moved ahead in July with plans for 2.8 miles of wall on the levee beside the refuge.

A protected refuge

Santa Ana covers about 2,000 acres along the Rio Grande south of Alamo. Congress shielded it and other sensitive areas from wall spending in 2019, but the Tribune reports that the federal funding law known as the One Big, Beautiful Bill has let the agency work around those limits.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Laredo Democrat who helped secure the 2019 protections, said he is concerned about the reports and has added language to the 2027 Homeland Security spending bill to keep them in place. Congress is not expected to vote on that bill until the end of the year.

Cuellar said he supports border security but that there are "better ways to secure our border than building through a wildlife refuge," and called on the agencies to disclose any change in the wall's route.

Sources

The Texas Tribune