Thanks to fierce opposition, border wall construction in Big Bend National Park has ceased — at least for now.
The Trump administration announced a pause in construction on Monday after this weekend saw large protests against the bulldozers that have already destroyed a swath of critical wilderness area within this park on the Texas–Mexico border. Though Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials claim they haven’t actually started construction, videos shared online last week showed contractors bulldozing through the park’s most sensitive environments.
It’s part of a multibillion-dollar effort to build more roads, barriers, and detection technology to improve border security in the park, according to the White House. However, even local law enforcement argues that the construction is unnecessary, mostly because Big Bend is in a brutally hot and undeveloped desert that sees few migrant crossings.
Even Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — long a steadfast supporter of President Trump — pushed back against the construction after dozens of Texas lawmakers urged him to step in.
It’s a victory for environmentalists and local journalists, whose videos of the park’s destruction created the uproar that forced Texas officials to demand accountability from the White House.
A Short-Term Victory
Although environmentalists cheered the pause in construction on Monday, it’s likely only the beginning of a drawn-out battle over the future of Big Bend.
The federal agencies in charge of the construction — CBP and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — claim that they’re not actually building another border wall in the park. Instead, they’re planning to build more roads and surveillance infrastructure, which they call a “smart wall.” To make it happen, DHS waived dozens of environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act.
This week’s pause in construction is merely the first step toward preventing further damage to one of the country’s most beautiful national parks, said leaders at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental nonprofit that opposes the construction.
“For the first time in weeks, the machines are quiet,” said Laiken Jardahl, a public lands advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, on Monday. “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 cancelled, the waivers of law are rescinded and the bulldozers are sent packing for good.”
The nonprofit has filed a lawsuit to prevent further damage to the park. In the meantime, they’re asking those concerned about the destruction in Big Bend to contact their Congressional representative and demand a permanent stop to the construction.
Big Bend Protest Background
It’s rare for hundreds of protesters to show up at Big Bend National Park — mostly because it’s not easy to get there.
Over the last year and a half, national parks like Yosemite and Yellowstone have seen large protests against the Trump administration for cuts to the park service, plans for expanded oil and gas drilling, and other public land issues. But both those parks are relatively close to highly populated areas of the country.
Big Bend, on the other hand, is surrounded by hundreds of miles of desert on all sides, making it one of the most remote national parks in the country. It’s roughly 6 hours of driving from El Paso, the nearest major city in Texas, and over 10 hours away from the capital in Austin.
So when hundreds of protesters arrived in the park to protest construction, it caused enough commotion to require intervention from CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott. He ordered a pause in construction on Sunday in a video posted to social media. Scott said he was traveling to the park for a “personal evaluation” to talk to local law enforcement and other stakeholders.
However, photographer Natalie Newman, who has been documenting the administration’s construction in Big Bend, asked why Scott’s evaluation is only happening now.
“Today is the first day in almost 2 weeks that there hasn’t been any needless destruction,” Newman wrote Monday. “And yet, so much has already happened. These are just some of the horrific scenes I have personally witnessed and documented since work began on August 5. Why was an evaluation not conducted BEFORE work started? Why did it take until now, after $1.7 billion was awarded and construction started for the commissioner to actually meet with locals? How long will this ‘pause’ actually last?”
