Big Bend National Park, the remote 801,163‑acre preserve that shares 118 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, saw bulldozers and excavators stand still on Tuesday. Commissioner Rodney Scott of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) met with local sheriffs and county judges in the region and announced a temporary pause of construction activity for at least two weeks.
Local officials welcome the pause
During the meeting, the commissioners told the officials that CBP has no plans to erect a wall inside the national park and is considering using existing park roads rather than building new patrol roads. The announcement was welcomed by the sheriffs, who confirmed the pause and said the agency’s earlier statements about a wall were inaccurate.
Opposition rooted in environmental and property concerns
Conservation groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, have filed lawsuits to stop the groundwork. Laiken Jordahl, the organization’s National Public Lands Advocate, expressed cautious optimism that the commissioner’s visit might lead to a full cancellation of the contract.
Landowners, business operators, and law‑enforcement officials from West Texas plan to travel to Austin on Wednesday to protest the border measures. They intend to speak at a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department meeting, arguing that the proposed barriers and new roads could damage the environment, harm recreational businesses, and threaten archaeological sites along the Rio Grande.
Scope of the proposed project
The broader Big Bend sector, a 517‑mile stretch of the Rio Grande that includes more than 100 counties in Texas and Oklahoma, has historically seen low apprehension numbers because of its rugged terrain. CBP’s current plan calls for a 30‑foot steel bollard wall, vehicle barriers, and up to 200 miles of new patrol roads, at an estimated cost of over $7 billion funded by the $46.5 billion border‑security allocation in the 2022 “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Outside the park, CBP intends to construct 175 miles of bollard wall in Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, and Presidio counties to the west, and 165 miles of vehicle barriers to the east. The agency also plans to install 17 miles of vehicle barriers at strategic locations.
Legal challenges and state response
At least four lawsuits have been filed challenging the waivers CBP received from the Department of Homeland Security, which temporarily suspended more than 30 federal statutes—including the Endangered Species Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act—to speed construction. Two emergency‑relief motions were filed in federal court this week, and judges could issue orders that halt the project while the cases proceed.
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham issued a cease‑and‑desist letter after contractors cleared roughly a mile of state land in the western part of the region without state approval. Buckingham said Texas sovereignty would not be infringed and that her office is reviewing titles and deeds to determine any trespass.
What remains uncertain
CBP has not verified the claim that four miles of land have already been cleared, though activists have observed cleared areas near Santa Elena Canyon and Mariscal Mountain. Two large staging areas with bollard‑wall components have been spotted south of Van Horn, Texas.
The pause gives local stakeholders a window to press for alternatives that rely more on technology than physical barriers. Whether the temporary halt will become a permanent change remains to be seen, but the meeting marks a notable moment of local input into a federal border‑security effort that has drawn bipartisan criticism.
Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.
