SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
big bend national park
Don't Just Pause Trump Border Construction in Big Bend National Park, Say Conservationists, End It
"Even with Customs and Border Protection pumping the brakes, the contractors could resume bulldozing deeper into the national park, causing irreversible damage to the wildest place in Texas," warned one campaigner.
Aug 18, 2026
Since US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott on Monday announced a temporary pause on construction in Big Bend National Park for an "on-the-ground evaluation," conservationists have called for CBP to permanently halt the Trump administration's widely opposed plans for southwest Texas.
"We've been watching the permanent destruction of a great American national park unfold in real time," said Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement.
The center joined Friends of the Ruidosa Church and a local river guide and landowner on Monday in asking a federal judge to stop border barrier and road construction in the region until the court rules on their lawsuit challenging a related waiver of various laws issued by the Trump administration.
"Even with Customs and Border Protection pumping the brakes, the contractors could resume bulldozing deeper into the national park, causing irreversible damage to the wildest place in Texas," Jordahl warned. "We're hopeful the judge will stop this destruction until there's a ruling on the merits of our case."
CPB previously ditched plans for a 30-foot wall in the area, but crews recently started work on a new road, barriers intended to stop cars from crossing over from Mexico, and other infrastructure as part of President Donald Trump's intense anti-immigrant agenda. Conservationists are concerned about negative impacts on not only the national park but also nearby Amistad National Recreation Area and Big Bend Ranch State Park.
The border construction in the region has been met with sweeping opposition, including from both Democratic and Republican elected officials. GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott suggested Monday that his weekend conversation with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin led to the pause. He said the department leader assured him there would be "no construction of any type of barrier at Big Bend National Park," with federal agents instead relying on "other tools" to prevent any border crossings.
The public outcry is working. Keep up the pressure until they fully abandon the plan to wreck Big Bend for no reason other than to make contractors money.Law enforcement, conservationists, Democrats, Republicans, Texans all agree: leave Big Bend alone.
[image or embed]
— Congressman Greg Casar (@repcasar.bsky.social) August 17, 2026 at 6:58 PM
Tiernan Sittenfeld, president and CEO for the National Parks Conservation Association, framed the pause as proof that public pressure works, saying: "The people have spoken, and they do not want the Trump administration to bulldoze America's national parks for border infrastructure. This pause on construction comes following hundreds of thousands of Americans bravely raising their voices to save Big Bend National Park."
"Unfortunately, the federal contractors' bulldozers have already inflicted tremendous damage to one of America's most iconic national parks," she noted. "Their heavy equipment has torn through miles of priceless wild landscape, wreaking havoc on sensitive wildlife and irreplaceable habitat."
"We demand that Customs and Border Protection take accountability for the destruction that has occurred at the park and do better by the American people and by our national parks," she added. "When Customs and Border Protection meets with West Texas communities, national park advocates, and expert national park staff, we urge the agency to commit to preventing any further harm to Big Bend and other protected landscapes."
Big Bend National Park is pretty perfect “as is,” so keep raising your voices.
[image or embed]
— Senator Martin Heinrich (@heinrich.senate.gov) August 17, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Dave Cortez, director of the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter, pledged Monday that "West Texas will not stand by while these irreplaceable landscapes remain at risk. This pause is a step in the right direction, but the threat has not passed."
"While we call on Texans of all political stripes to continue to press Gov. Abbott to defend Big Bend, we need every American who cherishes our public lands to continue to contact their members of Congress and encourage them to abandon every plan that puts Big Bend in harm's way," Cortez continued.
His colleague who manages the national Sierra Club's lands conservation campaign, Jackie Feinberg, also stressed that "Big Bend should never have been bulldozed for a destructive border project, and the Trump administration must make this pause permanent and repair the damage already done."
"Anything less than a full withdrawal is unacceptable for the millions of Americans across the country who love and cherish our national parks and public lands," she said. "The Sierra Club will keep fighting until this project is permanently rescinded. We call on Congress to act to defend Big Bend and ensure that our shared lands and waters nationwide are protected for generations to come."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Amid Outrage, Trump Border Chief Halts Construction in Big Bend National Park
While welcoming the development, one advocate stressed that "we won't rest until the contracts are canceled, the waivers of law are rescinded, and the bulldozers are sent packing for good."
Aug 17, 2026
US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott announced Monday that "CBP is pausing all construction activity in Big Bend National Park while I visit and conduct a personal, on-the-ground evaluation" of the Trump administration's controversial plans for the Texas site.
Although CBP previously abandoned plans for a 30-foot wall, crews recently started work on its revised scheme for the national land and a state park in the area, which involves "a new road, lights, miles of barriers designed to stop cars from crossing the border, and technology such as fiber optic cables to be buried under the fences," as The Associated Press reported Monday. It's part of President Donald Trump's much broader anti-immigrant agenda, which includes mass detention and deportation efforts.
The new plans for southern Texas have drawn criticism from local residents, Democratic and Republican politicians, all five sheriffs in the Big Bend border region, and organizations including the Center for Biological Diversity, which has filed a related lawsuit. The group's national public lands advocate, Laiken Jordahl, said last week that "this is the most heinous attack on an American national park in generations."
"The administration is preparing to blast hundreds of miles of destructive roads through the wildest place left in Texas and cut off public access to the Rio Grande, all to enrich private contractors," Jordahl continued. "Big Bend belongs to us all, and sacrificing it is a betrayal of every Texan and every American who believes our national parks should be protected. We won’t stop fighting this reckless assault on Big Bend National Park and America's natural heritage until this destruction ends."
National Parks Conservation Association president and CEO, Tiernan Sittenfeld, similarly declared last week that "bulldozing Big Bend National Park is an unconscionable attack on one of America's greatest treasures."
"The administration is slashing through miles of this wild landscape, threatening access to recreation, and harming sensitive wildlife habitat, she said. "Park advocates and local communities have warned the administration for months that their plan to build border wall infrastructure in Big Bend poses serious risks to this one-of-a-kind national park and surrounding landscape. Now Big Bend National Park and the people who love this place are suffering the consequences."
"Customs and Border Protection must halt construction in this iconic landscape," Sittenfeld argued. "There is still a chance for the administration to work together with Congress and communities to form a new plan for border security in the region that will not forever damage America's national parks."
Heeding such calls on Monday, Scott claimed that "CBP is firmly committed to protecting America, and that includes our national treasures like Big Bend National Park. We know the current and predictable national security threats and they are real. Now over the next couple of days, I will join a small team to evaluate the terrain and listen to local leadership, community members, and stakeholders to ensure that we secure our borders while simultaneously protecting BBNP for generations to come."
Noting that the "massive, nonpartisan outcry has taken Texas and the nation by storm," Jordahl welcomed Scott's announcement on social media.
"For the first time in weeks, the machines are quiet," he said. "This is welcome news, but they will likely commence with destruction again soon. DHS has lied to us every step of the way about this project. We can't afford to let up the pressure. We won't rest until the contracts are canceled, the waivers of law are rescinded, and the bulldozers are sent packing for good."
As part of the center's case, it joined Friends of the Ruidosa Church and a Big Bend-area river guide and landowner on Monday in asking a federal judge for an emergency injunction halting border barrier and road construction across the region.
"We've been watching the permanent destruction of a great American national park unfold in real time," Jordahl said in a statement. "Even with Customs and Border Protection pumping the breaks, the contractors could resume bulldozing deeper into the national park, causing irreversible damage to the wildest place in Texas. We're hopeful the judge will stop this destruction until there's a ruling on the merits of our case."
This article has been updated with the injunction request.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Trump Admin Waives Environmental Laws for Border Barrier Construction in National Park
“These horrific plans are an affront to the millions of Americans who treasure Big Bend,” said one conservationist. “Politicians who’ve never set foot here are signing a death warrant for this wild and beautiful place.”
Jun 08, 2026
The Trump administration's revised waiver of dozens of environmental laws to expedite the construction of border roads and barriers through Big Bend National Park in southern Texas is set to take effect Tuesday, over the objection of Indigenous, migrant rights, and environmental groups.
Last month, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initially published its determination that waivers from laws—including the National Park Service Organic Act, Endangered Species Act, and National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act—are needed "to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads in the vicinity of the international land border in the state of Texas."
However, DHS said the project area description in its original notice of determination was "incorrect" and issued a revised notice with the correct geographical information, set to be published on Tuesday.
“The absolute disdain this administration has for our national parks is disgraceful, and now they’re targeting Texas’ most beloved national park,” Center for Biological Diversity national public lands advocate Laiken Jordahl said in a statement Monday.
“The only people benefiting from this destruction are the billionaire contractors set to pad their pockets while paving over our natural heritage and permanently locking a great American river behind hideous steel barriers," Jordahl added. "We won’t stop fighting for this crown-jewel national park and the Rio Grande.”
As CBD noted, DHS in May awarded $1.7 billion in contracts that include work on a "border wall through Big Bend.” Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem personally approved two contracts for SLSCO Ltd., a Texas-based company also under contract for the infamous Alligator Alcatraz camp for immigrants in Florida. The company is a major Republican donor and is accused in court of trafficking people and weapons across the border.
Last week, DHS awarded another $2.6 billion contract—the biggest border deal to date—for the Lower Canyons stretch of the portion of the Rio Grande that has "Wild and Scenic River" protections, and is downstream from the national park.
While running for president in 2016 and during his first term, Trump repeatedly vowed that Mexico would pay for the wall, for which US taxpayers and private donors have footed the bill. Only a small fraction of the wall has been completed.
While much of the border barrier consists of a 30-foot reinforced steel-bollard wall, the 118-mile portion of the Rio Grande running through Big Bend National Park currently has mostly natural barriers like the rivers, deep riparian canyons, mountains, other steep terrain, and the unforgiving Chihuahuan Desert.
Planning documents and maps from earlier this year suggested substantial border wall construction in the broader Big Bend region. Amid public outcry and opposition from politicians from across the political spectrum, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published a map showing no planned 30-foot wall inside Big Bend National Park. However, the map shows miles of planned barriers meant to stop vehicles but not people on foot, new patrol roads cut through the park, and more surveillance technology.
"The move marks the first time in American history that the federal government has cast aside a broad slate of environmental laws... in a national park," CBD said Monday.
Considerable ambiguity remains over the precise nature of the border barrier through Big Bend National Park. In April, CBD filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act "to obtain public records about construction plans in the area."
Indigenous peoples and their advocates have also opposed expanding the border barrier and have criticized DHS for waiving laws, including the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and the Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act, to enable the administration's plans.
David Keller, a noted archaeologist in the region, warned in a February interview with Big Bend Reporter that what he called “the military industrialization of one of the last, great, unspoiled places remaining in the United States of America" threatens millennia of Indigenous history stored in the soil and etched on rock faces.
The Trump administration's work on other portions of the border wall has blasted and bulldozed sacred Indigenous sites.
Late last month, seven former Big Bend National Park superintendents wrote to DHS Secretary Marywayne Mullin, urging him to reject the waiver of federal laws. CBD and over 130 advocacy groups and business2es have also called on Congress to block federal funding for any further border wall construction in the region, including Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park.
"If a border wall—or other unnecessary and highly destructive border infrastructure—is built inside Big Bend National Park, it would be the most egregious assault on the integrity of the entire National Park System since the construction of a dam in the Hetchy Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park more than a century ago," the former superintendents asserted.
Texas Public Radio reported Sunday that construction on the border wall in the Big Bend area is set to begin "within weeks."
"Shipments of what appear to be steel bollards have begun arriving in the region, and at least one 'man camp' housing facility for workers is being developed," the outlet said.
As the No Big Bend Wall Coalition notes, while CBP's Big Bend Sector represents 26.5% of the US-Mexico border, only about 1.3% of all border apprehensions happened there last year, belying Trump administration claims of "high illegal activity" in the area.
"Historically, the Big Bend Sector is the quietest part of the entire US border," the coalition said. "While federal rhetoric has described a 'national emergency' to justify waiving environmental protections and seizing private land, their own CBP data tells a different story."
Keep ReadingShow Less
See More
Most Popular
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy