{"id":409246,"date":"2026-08-17T22:44:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T22:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/409246\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T22:44:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T22:44:07","slug":"trump-administration-briefly-pauses-contentious-border-project-in-texas-big-bend-national-park-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/409246\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration briefly pauses contentious border project in Texas’ Big Bend National Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration said Monday it is temporarily pausing construction of a\u00a0contentious border construction<\/a>\u00a0project in Texas’ Big Bend National Park while the head of the agency tasked with building the wall visits to do an \u201con-the-ground evaluation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project through the national park in southern Texas has faced\u00a0fierce bipartisan opposition by critics<\/a>\u00a0who say it is marring the area’s pristine environment. They argue the region\u2019s rugged and remote terrain already serves as a deterrent to migrants and smugglers. Border crossings in the area have historically been lower than other regions and have dropped even further over the past two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cCBP is pausing all construction activity in Big Bend National Park while I visit and conduct a personal, on-the-ground evaluation,\u201d Rodney Scott, who heads Customs and Border Protection, said on X. Scott said over the next couple of days, he was going to \u201clisten to local leadership, community members and stakeholders\u201d to address what he said were \u201creal\u201d national security threats while protecting the park.<\/p>\n

Pause marks a rare concession from Trump administration \u2014 but unclear for how long<\/p>\n

While it isn\u2019t clear whether the brief suspension portended a more permanent halt to the construction in the area, it reflected the intensity of the bipartisan opposition and was a rare concession from the administration on a signature promise of the president\u2019s that it has raced to complete.<\/p>\n

Congress gave the Trump administration\u00a0$46 billion last summer<\/a>\u00a0to build a wall from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, and the administration has been charging ahead and waiving numerous regulations in an effort to swiftly build the wall.<\/p>\n

Scott has said he expects the first layer of the wall to be built by the end of next year.<\/p>\n

But the administration has run into fierce opposition in Texas, especially when it comes to construction in and near Big Bend National Park and a state park to the west.<\/p>\n

Customs and Border Protection earlier this year backed off plans to build a 30-foot-tall bollard wall through the parks but was still moving forward with other border protection measures such as 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.<\/p>\n

That has sparked opposition from Democratic and Republican sheriffs in the region, former national park officials, local residents who rely on the parks for their livelihood, and some Texas elected officials. Critics have said it will scar the rugged landscape that attracts tourists who raft down the Rio Grande River and take advantage of some of the clearest night skies in the U.S. to gaze at stars.<\/p>\n

Last week, bulldozers were seen clearing land at the park, sparking even more concern and raising questions from one of the state’s Republican senators.<\/p>\n

At the time the bulldozers were seen, the Department of Homeland Security said on X that they were related to \u201csurvey and design work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. John Cornyn, who lost the Republican primary to the state’s attorney general, wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin over construction concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy constituents believe that the 1,000-foot riverbank cliffs and remote Big Bend terrain offer their own source of deterrence for any illegal migrants crossing into the United States. The dangerous terrain includes steep mountains, deep canyons, and expansive deserts, which they believe act as a natural barrier that limits large-scale movements,\u201d Cornyn wrote.<\/p>\n

As the wall-building efforts have shifted into high gear this year along the roughly 2,000-mile border, opposition has spiked as well.<\/p>\n

The administration has faced criticism from Native American groups saying wall\u00a0contractors are desecrating religious sites<\/a>, a small Texas town worried the wall will damage\u00a0its levee system<\/a>, and a Catholic archdiocese that says wall construction in the El Paso area mars an important religious site.<\/p>\n

Activists praise the pause but say it’s only a first step<\/p>\n

Activists who have been rallying opposition to the administration’s plans said they were encouraged by the pause, but they would be watching closely to see if CBP makes any significant changes or simply goes back to its previous plans.<\/p>\n

Bob Krumenaker was the superintendent of Big Bend National Park from 2018 to 2023 and now chairs the organization \u201cKeep Big Bend Wild,\u201d which aims to preserve the park’s wild nature. He said he was \u201cwary but optimistic\u201d after news of the pause.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are paying attention to all of the objections that have been raised across the political spectrum,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But Krumenaker said it’s unlikely that CBP is going to entirely abandon all its plans in the region. Krumenaker said he and others would be watching to see whether the equipment like the bulldozers is removed from the park, the agency outlines a clear plan going forward, and it repairs any damage already done.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s hope they significantly modify their plans in response to what they hear, and make it transparent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Another group, which sued Homeland Security over its decision to broadly waive regulations to speed up construction projects in the Big Bend region, called the announcement \u201cwelcome news\u201d but warned that construction could resume \u201cat any moment.\u201d<\/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 with the Center for Biological Diversity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\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

Copyright \u00a9 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Trump administration said Monday it is temporarily pausing construction of a\u00a0contentious border construction\u00a0project in Texas’ Big Bend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[142955,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-409246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-142955","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}