1、CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i District Court Decision May Help Pave the Way for Trump Administrations Border Wall Plans April 2, 2018 The construction of potentially hundreds of miles of fencing and other barriers along the U.S.-Mexico bord
2、er is a key pillar of the Trump Administrations border security strategy. Completing this objective would likely require the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), acting pursuant to existing statutory authority, to waive application of laws that the Secretary determined would imped
3、e the expeditious constructing of barriers along the border. A recent decision by Judge Gonzalo Curiel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, turning aside challenges to DHSs exercise of this waiver authority for two border projects in southern California, is consistent
4、with earlier court decisions upholding the DHS Secretarys waiver of numerous laws that might impede border fence deployment projects along the U.S.-Mexico border. Taken together, these court rulings suggest that those seeking to constrain the DHSs ability to waive environmental and other laws that m