Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Atiny Texan town along the border with Mexico is fighting the administration’s efforts to build a border wall running through a levee system protecting the community. The town argued in court on July 21 that the wall could cause flooding and that the administration isn’t following the law.
The hearing in federal court came as the Department of Homeland Security charges forward with its $46 billion plan to complete a border wall from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico and deliver on what has long been a signature promise of President Donald Trump. But the department is running into opposition by landowners, environmental groups, Native American tribes and others who argue that the government’s rapid construction endangers historical and religious sites and a way of life along the border, when crossings from Mexico are already at extreme lows.
The lawsuit brought by the development district of Presidio pits a small town of a little over 3,200 residents against a department key to the administration’s plans to carry out its mass deportations agenda.
It showcases a context that has long been important to many Americans, particularly Republicans: the scratchiness that sometimes arises between the most local municipalities and the federal government.
Lawyers for the development district contend the government’s plans could compromise the levee system.
