Border wall work in Texas national park paused
By: Trevor Hughes
USA today
..... Federal officials have paused a controversial construction project linked to President Donald Trump's southwest border wall through Big Bend National Park in Texas.
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While federal officials did not plan to build a wall through the park, public lands advocates were outraged when contractors began bulldozing access roads through the area in early to mid-August. [2026] Videos recorded by activists captured bulldozers and track hoes cutting thorough the desert soil and across cliffs.
..... "Last night I put a pause on all activity in that park as far as construction goes until I can get down there and do a personal evaluation, talk to some stakeholders, talk to local law enforcement in that area," Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said in an August 17 [2026] video statement.
.....Although very few legal border crossers currently try to cross the rugged landscape, federal officials said they needed roads both to install surveillance equipment and to permit routine patrol access in case migration pasterns change. The Trump administration angered public lands groups in June [2026] by waiving environmental laws that would have otherwise slowed or prohibited that construction.
..... Trump campaigned on tough immigration enforcement and border controls, and he has made expansion of the border wall a key campaign promise. Environmental groups argued no wall was needed through Big Bend, a national park hat was formally cerated in 1944 and spans about 801,000 acres of desert and mountains.
..... Lola residents argue that the road construction itself is an environmental catastrophe. They staged an August 12 [2026] protest against the project.
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In a statement, the National Parks conservation Association lauded the pause, but said significant damage has been done.
..... Unfortunately, the federal contractors' bulldozers have already inflicted tremendous damage to one of American's most iconic national parks," NPCA President and CEO Tienan Sittenfeld said. "Their heavy equipment has torn through miles of priceless wild landscape, wreaking havoc on sensitive wildlife and irreplaceable habitat. We damned that Customs and Border Protections take accountability fr the destruction that has occurred at the park and do better by the American people and to our national parks."
..... Congress last summer supercharged Trump's border-security efforts with $46.5 billion in funding, and federal officials in June [2026] waived dozens of environmental regulations to speed up wall construction in or near the national park.
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On August 13, [2026] as the bulldozers began their work, Scott in a statement to USA Today reiterated that works were not building a wall. And he noted that it would be possible to both secure the border and limit work within the park.
..... Speaking to reporters on August 17, [2026] Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he's confident federal officials can both secure the park and the nation's southern border. Abbott said he talked to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and received assurance there will be no wall or fence through the park. Abbott did not address the construction of access roads.