TEXAS — Fresh off announcing a primary challenge to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush has sued the Biden administration for halting construction of the southern border wall.

What You Need To Know

  • A lawsuit filed by Texas Land Commissioner claims the Biden administration halted construction of the Texas-Mexico border wall illegally

  • The lawsuit comes shortly after Bush announced he will challenge Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in 2022

  • Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, meanwhile, has pledged to finish construction of the wall

  • President Joe Biden paused construction of the border wall soon after taking office 

Filed in McAllen on Wednesday, the lawsuit claims construction of the wall was stopped illegally.

“Today, on behalf of the people of Texas, I am suing President Biden on grounds that he is illegally preventing the border wall from being constructed. The issue here is simple—no man is above the law. And that includes President Biden. For four years, Congress allocated more than $5 billion to construct fencing and walls around the Southern border,” Bush said during a news conference that included Border Patrol agents.

“Each year, that legislation was signed into law by President Donald Trump. Now, four years after the first funding was signed into law, President Biden has announced that he will simply no longer follow the law and illegally halted all construction to build the wall. This is wrong. This is illegal. And this will not hold up in court,” Bush continued.

The lawsuit also comes after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vowed the state will complete the border wall Trump started. Abbott has redirected state money and is raising funds for construction via private donations.

Trump’s signature border wall project would lose much of its funding as well as the fast-track status that enabled it to bypass environmental regulations under a Biden administration plan announced in June.

President Joe Biden suspended construction of the wall upon taking office while his administration reviewed the project. That angered Republicans in Congress eager to see it go forward amid an increase in apprehensions of migrants along the southwest border. The new plan does not cancel the wall project outright, but it’s still likely to face opposition in Congress, where many Republicans are eager to promote a project closely associated with the former president.

Biden plans to return more than $2 billion that the Trump administration diverted from the Pentagon to help pay for the wall and use other money appropriated by Congress to address “urgent life, safety, and environmental issues” created by the construction. It also asks lawmakers not to provide any additional funding for what the Biden team believes is an unnecessary effort.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.