A pause on construction activity tied to a controversial border barrier project in the Big Bend region will remain in place through Sept. 15, attorneys challenging the project said Friday following a federal court hearing. The agreement extends an existing pause on earth-moving activity while U.S . District Judge Orlando Garcia considers the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order. Attorneys said Garcia indicated he expects to rule on that request within four to six days. Attorneys for the plaintiffs said, while the agreement is not itself a temporary restraining order, they believe the extended pause is a victory. Attorney Dick DeGuerin with plantiffs outside a San Antonio Courthouse “We’ve won the battle, not the war,” Attorney State Sen. Roland Gutierrez said after the hearing. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.” The lawsuit challenges the Department of Homeland Security’s plans for the “Big Bend 2 Wall Project,” which court filings say could include roughly 62 miles of primary border wall system and associated roads, excavation, lighting, cameras, sensors and other infrastructure. The plaintiffs include Indigenous advocates, area residents and a local business. They argue the project threatens environmentally and culturally significant land and that the federal government failed to provide adequate notice and due process before moving forward. Attorneys said Friday that the government also committed that there would be no wall built within Big Bend National Park. However, questions remain about what, if anything, could ultimately be constructed elsewhere in the broader Big Bend region. Attorney Dick DeGuerin said Garcia asked government attorneys during the hearing what was planned for the area. “They were not able to say,” DeGuerin said. “They don’t know.” Gutierrez said the plaintiffs are seeking more clarity about what Customs and Border Protection ultimately intends to build. “I think that the people of this region deserve to have transparency and clarity from their government,” Gutierrez said. Attorneys stressed that their concerns extend beyond the national park itself, particularly for Indigenous plaintiffs who say areas potentially affected by the project contain ancestral burial sites. “This is their church. This is their synagogue, their mosque, their Catholic church,” Gutierrez said. “That place specifically is important to our clients. That is where their ancestors are buried.” The legal challenge will continue as the court considers whether to grant the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order. ...read more read less