{"id":67027,"date":"2026-08-18T06:24:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T06:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/67027\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T06:24:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T06:24:27","slug":"trump-administration-pausing-big-bend-construction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/67027\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration pausing Big Bend construction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott announced that his agency is pausing construction work in Big Bend National Park while he conducts an \u201con-the-ground evaluation,\u201d reversing course after heavy machinery had begun moving dirt.<\/p>\n

In a video posted to X on Monday<\/a>, Scott announced that he was en route to the park and had ordered a construction pause Sunday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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 some local law enforcement in that area,\u201d Scott said. \u201cMore to follow this week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott\u2019s announcement comes amid massive outcry from local residents, businesses and law enforcement officials. Many have derided plans to build border infrastructure in the parklands and called for CBP officials to engage with their concerns. <\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear how long CBP plans to implement the pause.<\/p>\n

The federal government plans to build an access road and vehicle barriers in the park, a treasured spot for generations of Texans. Bulldozers arrived in Big Bend earlier this month to begin what CBP says is survey and design work. <\/p>\n

The onset of construction has yielded bipartisan frustration. Texas Democrats have stood against the project for months, maintaining that the effort to build border infrastructure in the park is unnecessary, damaging and an affront to Texas\u2019 sovereignty. And both candidates for Texas\u2019 23rd Congressional District, which contains the Big Bend region, oppose the wall effort.<\/p>\n

More elected Republicans have begun to make noise in recent days. Sen. John Cornyn<\/a>, R-Texas, asked Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin in an Aug. 7 letter<\/a> to halt construction until he or a designee consults with stakeholders \u2014 a request Scott now appears to be heeding.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Scott said he and a small team will \u201cevaluate 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland, a retired Border Patrol agent who has argued that a border wall in the Big Bend region is unnecessary, said he has been in communication with Scott, a friend dating back to their days as Border Patrol colleagues in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

Cleveland told the Tribune that he and other sheriffs in the Big Bend area, including his counterparts in Brewster, Hudspeth and Jeff Davis counties, are meeting with Scott in Alpine Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Gov. Greg Abbott, during an unrelated news conference in Waco on Monday, said he spoke to Mullin, who \u201ccommitted to me that they will not be building a wall or a fence in Big Bend National Park.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was told by the secretary that there would be no construction of any type of barrier in Big Bend National Park,\u201d Abbott said. He said that Scott\u2019s announcement on Monday \u201cseems to be a consequence of my conversation with the secretary this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that federal officials can use technology such as drones to secure this part of the Texas-Mexico border \u201cwithout undermining the beauty of the national park.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

CBP has said it does not plan to build a 30-foot wall or place stadium lighting in the park. In a statement Thursday, the agency said it is working to maintain visitor access and preserve the landscape, but that the construction is necessary for border security.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese improvements will help our agents detect illegal crossings, respond faster, and assist visitors in danger,\u201d Scott said. \u201cAs we strengthen the border across the southwest, we will not leave Big Bend as an opening for cartels to exploit by shifting their routes and tactics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local officials and park advocates have maintained that the 1,000-foot cliffs along the riverbank in the park are \u201cGod\u2019s walls\u201d \u2014 a natural deterrent for migration \u2014 and that any construction would irreparably damage the park\u2019s unique ecology and the local tourism and outdoors industries. CBP\u2019s Big Bend sector is geographically large yet quiet, account for just 1.3% of apprehensions along the southern border in fiscal year 2025.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, who has said that the administration needs to make its intentions in the park clear to the public and called a 30-foot bollard fence in the park unnecessary, thanked Scott for his announcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can secure Big Bend while protecting its God-given scenery,\u201d he wrote on social media.<\/p>\n

Park advocates celebrated the pause but pushed for a more permanent answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis temporary pause proves how much non-partisan public pressure is mounting in West Texas and across America to stop the irreversible destruction unfolding in this crown jewel national park,\u201d said Laiken Jordahl, a national public lands advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. \u201cIt\u2019s welcome news, but construction at Big Bend is likely to resume at any moment. We\u2019re not resting until these contracts are canceled, these workers are sent packing, the waivers are rescinded and every wall plan for the greater Big Bend region is scrapped for good.\u201d<\/p>\n

CBP had previously described its actions in the park as \u201csurvey and design work \u2014 NOT construction of a wall through the park.\u201d Scott\u2019s description of the activity as \u201cconstruction\u201d today underscored advocates\u2019 frustrations with the work federal contractors have already done in the park.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a win that he\u2019s looking at the park, but it also is a real statement of the irresponsibility of unleashing bulldozers before you take a look at something,\u201d said Billy Bartko, the owner of Far Flung Outdoor Center in Terlingua.<\/p>\n

Various groups have launched legal efforts to force CBP out of the park. State Sen. Roland Gutierrez<\/a>, D-San Antonio, filed a petition seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent construction in the park until the case can be adjudicated.<\/p>\n

Gutierrez said the pause is a \u201cgood thing, for sure\u201d but that opponents should continue to press for a full stoppage. He accused CBP of misrepresenting the activity it has already taken in the park as simple surveying.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not what has happened here,\u201d Gutierrez said<\/a>. \u201cIt has been complete clear-cutting of the countryside, of hills and mountains \u2014 Mariscal Mountains and beyond \u2014 right along the Santa Elena Canyon, destroying vegetation [and] archaeological sites without any care in the world. We need to stop this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uriel J. Garc\u00eda and Kayla Guo contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[22676,22677,168,409,8,290,9,412,7,293],"class_list":["post-67027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-stories","tag-big-bend","tag-big-bend-national-park","tag-border-security","tag-democrats","tag-headlines","tag-john-cornyn","tag-news","tag-republicans","tag-top-stories","tag-well-a-homepage"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/117115084026176539","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}