Rebecca Centeno
This stretch of South Texas border wall was constructed during the George W. Bush administration, but the coils of barbed wire went up during Trump’s.
State District Judge Keno Vasquez ruled Tuesday that the National Butterfly Center may face “imminent and irreparable harm” if the Florida-based group continues with plans for a "water wall" near the refuge, the Washington Post reports.
After the ruling, environmental law group Earthjustice sent a letter on behalf of the Butterfly Center asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to investigate the activists' “apparent violations of federal law” and urging it to halt the project.
“We Build the Wall’s disregard for the law is astounding,” Earthjustice attorney Sarah Burt said in a written statement. “We’re asking our government to stand up to such lawlessness and protect landowners and local communities from the impacts of this malicious project.”
It remains to be seen whether We Build the Wall and its outspoken founder, military veteran Brian Kolfage, will stop work without further intervention.
After all, the group undertook construction on a similar fence in New Mexico without obtaining permits. What's more, Kolfage recently greeted concerns from neighbors to his South Texas project with a barrage of insults and conspiracy theories.
News of the judge's ruling earned a similarly strident response.
“We have many people who try to stop us legally with silly attempts, and in the end we always prevail,” Kolfage said in an email to the Washington Post. “I would put a 50/50 chance this is fake news, and if it’s not it will be crushed legally pretty fast.”
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