MISSION — The National Butterfly Center filed for a temporary restraining order against the federal government in an attempt to halt clearing, excavation, and construction of a border wall on their property.

The order was filed Monday evening.

Agents have blocked the entrance to the southern portion of the center's property and replaced the center's lock, barring employees and guests from accessing the property, according to the order.

As the Department of Homeland Security has pushed forward with preparation for construction of barriers on land adjacent to the butterfly center, there's ongoing interference with the center's property rights, the order states.

The center in Mission is the flagship project of the North American Butterfly Association, which has been in a legal battle with the federal government since 2017.

Amid the legal battle to stop the federal government from erecting a 36-foot "wall system" topped with steel bollards through its property, the butterfly center is conducting business as usual.

On a Wednesday morning, the parking lot at the 100-acre wildlife center was full, with some families and winter Texans visiting its trails, observation areas, exhibits, and botanical garden.

There was even a field trip planned, said Marianna Treviño-Wright, the center’s director.

More:La Lomita chapel likely will lose Round 1 in its fight against Trump's border wall

The National Butterfly Center posted a photo Feb. 3 that shows an excavator parked near its property.

Customs and Border Protection's Marcelino Medina said Feb. 6 construction has not started, adding that a timeline indicates the project is slated to begin mid-February.

In October, environmental and historic preservation laws were waived to expedite the construction of the barriers, which are being funded by the 2018 omnibus Appropriations Act.

The agency intends to build 25 miles of concrete walls to the height of the existing flood-control levee in Hidalgo County next to the Rio Grande, the river that forms the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas.

Customs and Border Protection has pushed ahead with building what’s already funded.

President Donald Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion in additional funding for new barriers along the border remains unfulfilled. Trump remains at odds with top Democrats on his effort to make good on campaign promises to build a “big, beautiful” wall, which led to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

More:Sign up to have news emailed to you daily

U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers have awarded Galveston-based SLSCO a $145 million contract to build the first six miles of a border-levee wall system along the U.S.-Mexico border in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

This includes about 200 acres of land that sits on the butterfly center's property south of a levee, about two miles inland from the Rio Grande River.

The land was set aside for the protection of endangered species, such as the ocelot.

More:Border wall projects slated for February facing opposition in the Rio Grande Valley

"Everything will be desecrated, bulldozed and cut off from access by citizens and landowners," according to a GoFundMe campaign titled "Protect the National Butterfly Center."

The center has filed lawsuits to stop construction of the wall. Additional lawsuits filed by the Center for Biological Diversity challenged the waivers granted by the Supreme Court.

These cases are still working their way through the federal court system.