Mexican-American judge rules in Trump's favour on border wall

Washington, Feb 28 (IANS) Mexican-American Judge Gonzalo Curiel, whom President Donald Trump once attacked for his Mexican heritage has ruled in favour of the administration in a lawsuit attempting to block the President's proposed wall on the US-Mexico border.

Curiel, whose parents immigrated from Mexico, ruled on Tuesday against a legal challenge to the wall over environment waivers granted by the Department of Homeland Security, the Hill magazine reported.

The ruling meant that the administration will be able to continue waiving the regulations to build barriers on the border.

Trump had harshly attacked the Indiana-born Curiel during the 2016 presidential campaign, claiming that because of his Mexican heritage the judge could be biased against the mogul in the fraud case he presided over involving so-called Trump University, a legal matter that ultimately was settled out of court for $25 million.

Curiel wrote in his ruling that he did not have "serious constitutional doubts" about the administration's use of the waivers.

"In its review of this case, the court cannot and does not consider whether underlying decisions to construct the border barriers are politically wise or prudent," he said. 

The lawsuit, filed by the state of California last year, argued that the Department had improperly waived the National Environmental Policy Act and other immigration and environmental rules to speed up the construction of the wall.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement that the state was "unwavering in our belief that the Trump Administration was ignoring laws it doesn't like in order to resuscitate a campaign talking point of building a wall on our southern border". 

"We will evaluate all of our options and are prepared to do what is necessary to protect our people, our values, and our economy from federal overreach," he said. "A medieval wall along the US-Mexico border simply does not belong in the 21st century."

And Brian Segee, senior attorney for the Centre for Biological Diversity, one of the litigants in the suit, said the organization would appeal the decision, calling the waivers "unconstitutional".

"The Trump administration has completely overreached its authority in its rush to build this destructive, senseless wall," Segee said in a statement. 

"They're giving unprecedented, sweeping power to an unelected agency chief to ignore dozens of laws and crash through hundreds of miles of spectacular borderlands."

But a Department of Justice spokesman applauded the ruling, saying it will allow "work vital to our nation's interest.