The grounds of the Capitol in Austin were crowded Saturday as more than 2,000 people gathered to protest proposed construction of a physical wall on the Mexico-U.S. border in the Big Bend region.
The region is home to Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge and Seminole Canyon State Park. Protesters argue the proposed 30-foot border wall will fracture protected ecosystems in the region.
Calvin Plumb has been going to the park for decades. He and his wife Sandra said they feel called to protect the park.
“The idea that bulldozers are gonna come through there and change the landscape, it touches down so deep in my soul that I had to be here,” Plumb said. “I just could not let it happen. As a native son of this state, I just could not, if I might be able to stop it.”
Plans for the border wall keep changing.
In February, the Trump administration waived more than two dozen environmental laws in order to expedite construction of a physical border wall spanning more than 150 miles. The original plan included construction of the wall through both Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park.
However, as of Saturday, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website said the region will rely on detection technology rather than a physical wall. President Trump has not commented on the change on the website.
Lorianne Willett
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KUT News
Opponents of the proposed construction argue that the natural terrain of the Big Bend region is enough of a deterrent for potential border crossings.
Without formal confirmation, some protesters remain wary of border construction plans.
Martha Stafford is a resident of Big Bend and said she has been organizing against the proposed wall since the idea was first floated during Trump’s first term. She said she doesn’t trust the current map on the website.
“ Until it is on the record, until I see it in writing, I don’t believe it,” Stafford said. “ Are they just trying to please us until after the midterms and then the physical wall goes up?”
Stafford said that even if a physical wall isn’t constructed in the parks, a physical wall anywhere in the region will threaten the ecosystems there.
The Big Bend area is home to dozens of migratory animals and several endangered species, including the Mexican long-nosed bat and the Big Bend Gambusia fish — both of which are sensitive to changes in their environment. It is also one of the nation’s largest dark sky zones, boasting the least light pollution out of any national park in the Lower 48 states.
Protesters said the kind of detection technology proposed for the border risks disrupting the region’s cherished access to the stars.
Lorianne Willett
/
KUT News
Protesters at the rally signed a petition “calling for the entire project and construction to be halted.”
Michael Ryan was a park ranger in Big Bend National Park for 23 years. He knows how sensitive the wilderness is.
“ Even if they say no physical wall, when they talk about the technology and everything, the lights and the associated infrastructure for that…it’s not construction, it’s destruction,” Ryan said.
Opposition to the physical wall has spanned party lines. More than 40 Texas lawmakers on both sides of the aisle signed a letter urging Gov. Greg Abbott to halt physical border construction plans in the region. Some opponents of the construction argue that the terrain of the region is enough of a deterrent for crossing.
Republican and former Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said this isn’t an issue about politics.
“I oppose the wall ’cause we already have a wall. It’s nature’s wall. It’s been there for millennia, the border is secure,” Patterson said.
“We don’t need to spend $41 billion that can be put elsewhere. I think that’s something that in all my, all my years in politics, I’ve never seen something where there was no dispute among the citizenry.”
Patterson shared the stage with Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett. Doggett said he also sees this as a unifying issue.
“ Big Ben is such a unique place. It’s critical that Trump’s desire to build walls everywhere not tear it up,” Doggett said, “This is an opportunity to bring people of all political persuasions together who just treasure this area.”