San Antonio, Texas \u2014 SAN ANTONIO \u2014 The decision to pause construction inside Big Bend National Park is now drawing reaction from two candidates for the U.S. Senate, as questions remain about whether the halt will become permanent.<\/p>\n
Republican Ken Paxton, Texas’ attorney general, and Democrat James Talarico are both calling for the park to be protected after widespread public outrage over construction, a visit by U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott and the removal of heavy machinery from the national park.<\/p>\n
The controversy over plans for border barriers in the Big Bend region began months before bulldozers arrived.<\/p>\n
In June, Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Laredo tried to block federal funding from being used to construct border barriers in Big Bend National Park through an amendment to the fiscal year 2027 Homeland Security funding bill.<\/p>\n
The amendment failed 26-34 in the House Appropriations Committee.<\/p>\n
Three Texas Republicans on the committee \u2014 U.S. Reps. John Carter of Round Rock, Michael Cloud of Victoria and Jake Ellzey of Waxahachie \u2014 voted against Cuellar’s amendment. Democratic U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar of El Paso voted for it.<\/p>\n
All Republicans present voted against the amendment, while all Democrats present supported it.<\/p>\n
Public opposition continued to grow when heavy machinery arrived in Big Bend National Park and images showed crews moving dirt inside the park.<\/p>\n
CBP said crews were beginning survey and design work for an access road and vehicle barriers. Scott later ordered all construction activity inside the national park paused while he traveled to the region for an on-the-ground evaluation and met with local elected officials and law enforcement.<\/p>\n
Days later, the heavy machinery was pulled out.<\/p>\n
The controversy is now reaching the U.S. Senate race.<\/p>\n
Talarico recently toured the Big Bend region after being invited by Democratic and Republican elected officials. That trip came about two weeks before the unexpected construction began inside the national park.<\/p>\n
Talarico commented on the federal government’s decision to pause the work.<\/p>\n
“This pause in construction is a good first step. But Texans need assurances that this project will not continue,” Talarico said. “We cannot bulldoze one of our greatest treasures in this state, in this country, Big Bend National Park.”<\/p>\n
Talarico argued that local officials should have a greater role in deciding how to secure the remote region.<\/p>\n
“God already built a wall in Big Bend, it’s called the Chisos Mountains,” Talarico said. “We need to listen to local law enforcement, to local officials, about the best way to secure these remote sections of the border.”<\/p>\n
Paxton is also supporting the federal government’s decision to pause construction.<\/p>\n
In a statement to Fox San Antonio, Paxton said he “fully supports” the administration’s decision.<\/p>\n
“Texans know this stretch of our border better than anyone in Washington,” Paxton said. “Destroying one of our state’s greatest natural treasures with unnecessary roads and barriers is not smart border security.”<\/p>\n
Paxton said effective border enforcement should protect communities and support law enforcement while respecting what he called the “unique character” of places such as Big Bend. He said natural resources should be left undisturbed for future generations.<\/p>\n
“The decision to halt this work and evaluate the situation on the ground is exactly the kind of common-sense leadership Texans deserve,” Paxton said.<\/p>\n
The construction pause came after opposition spread from the Big Bend region across Texas, including to Austin, where Texans urged state officials to protect Big Bend National Park and neighboring Big Bend Ranch State Park.<\/p>\n
For now, the bulldozers are out of Big Bend National Park, but the future of the federal project remains unclear.<\/p>\n
Scott initially said there would be “more to follow” after his evaluation. After meeting with local officials this week, he indicated federal officials expect to make a decision on the temporary construction pause in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
That leaves a central question unanswered: What will CBP’s revised plan for Big Bend look like, and will construction inside the national park remain stopped?<\/p>\n
I made one important factual adjustment from the TV version: **Scott has not publicly promised a \u201cnew plan soon.\u201d** His initial statement was \u201cmore to follow this week,\u201d and after his meeting, local officials said the federal government expects a decision on the temporary pause **in the coming weeks**. ([The Texas Tribune][1]) The Cuellar vote is confirmed by the official House roll call: Carter, Cloud and Ellzey voted no; Escobar voted yes; the amendment failed 26-34. ([docs.house.gov][2])<\/p>\n
[1]: https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2026\/08\/17\/texas-big-bend-national-park-border-wall-construction-pause\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “Trump administration pausing Big Bend construction”<\/p>\n
[2]: https:\/\/docs.house.gov\/meetings\/AP\/AP00\/20260609\/119380\/HMKP-119-AP00-20260609-SD008.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com “FULL COMMITTEE VOTES”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Antonio, Texas \u2014 SAN ANTONIO \u2014 The decision to pause construction inside Big Bend National Park is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-413592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413592","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=413592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}