Federal judge allows DHS to advance border-wall construction through Texas levee system

A federal judge has allowed the Department of Homeland Security to proceed with border-wall construction through a levee system in a small Texas town, rejecting a challenge to the administration’s use of waiver authority.

The decision, issued late Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026, is a victory for the Trump administration’s effort to advance a planned $46 billion border-wall program. It also gives DHS room to continue construction planning in an area where challengers argued that the agency could not waive legal requirements as broadly as it claimed.

The judge rejected that interpretation. The court concluded that Congress did not intend to restrict the DHS secretary’s waiver authority in the way the challengers argued. That conclusion clears the way for the construction effort covered by the ruling to move forward, at least at the federal district-court level.