Bulldozers have arrived inside Big Bend National Park, beginning early construction on a $1.7 billion federal border security project that has ignited opposition from environmental groups, local sheriffs, business owners and Texas state officials alike.
According to WOAI, federal contractors began work this week tied to the massive border infrastructure contract, which the Department of Homeland Security awarded in May. U.S. Customs and Border Protection told KUT and Marfa Public Radio that the project will not include a 30-foot steel border wall through the park, but will instead rely on a mix of vehicle barriers, surveillance technology and patrol roads. CBP has said the plans call for roughly 17 miles of vehicle barrier systems and about 205 miles of additional infrastructure, which could include roads or technology depending on the location.
Newsweek reported that social media videos posted by conservation groups and local activists this week showed vegetation being cleared near the Rio Grande, with a large bulldozer operating as ground crews in high-visibility vests and hard hats looked on. Marfa Public Radio reported that contractor Southwest Valley Constructors moved bulldozers and trucks into the park near Cottonwood Campground. Southwest Valley Constructors holds the approximately $1.7 billion contract for the border-security work in the region.
The Center for Biological Diversity, which is challenging the project in court, said contractors have begun clearing vegetation near Santa Elena Canyon. Laiken Jordahl, the group's national public lands advocate, said bulldozers are now carving a new road along the Rio Grande corridor near the canyon. "They are carving a brand new road right along the border in that river corridor," Jordahl told WOAI, adding that the equipment now on site represents only the start of a much larger construction effort. In comments to Newsweek, Jordahl called the project "the most heinous attack on an American national park in generations," arguing that the administration is "preparing to blast hundreds of miles of destructive roads through the wildest place left in Texas and cut off public access to the Rio Grande, all to enrich private contractors."
The construction follows a June decision by DHS to waive dozens of federal environmental and historic preservation requirements, including protections under the Endangered Species Act, the National Park Service Organic Act and the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, in order to speed up border construction in the area. The Center for Biological Diversity is challenging those waivers in court. Jordahl told WOAI he is concerned the waivers mean ground could be disturbed before archaeological resources are properly documented, since projects inside a national park would normally undergo review under the National Environmental Policy Act along with other environmental and historic consultations.
DHS and CBP have defended the project as necessary to secure a stretch of the southern border spanning hundreds of miles. Newsweek reported that DHS has cited more than 89,000 migrant encounters in the Big Bend Sector between fiscal years 2021 and 2025, as well as drug seizures, to justify the additional infrastructure. CBP told Newsweek on August 5 that early construction is underway in parts of the Big Bend region and that the agency is coordinating with park officials to minimize disruptions and use existing roads where possible. CBP said construction has not yet begun on the fourth segment of the project, which includes portions within Big Bend National Park, where plans call for roughly 200 miles of patrol roads and detection technology. The agency reiterated it is not planning to build a 30-foot-high barrier within Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park or the surrounding area.
Opposition has crossed party lines. Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland, a Republican who spent 26 years as a U.S. Border Patrol agent, nearly half of that time in the Big Bend Sector, told Newsweek the construction was "both unfortunate and unnecessary." Cleveland said the officials making the decisions "do not have the first-hand knowledge of Big Bend that the men and women who have actually patrolled this country possess," and argued the region could be secured through targeted technology, improved existing roads and the expertise of agents who know the terrain. "We can secure this sector effectively without unnecessarily bulldozing one of the most rugged and treasured landscapes in America," he said. The Center for Biological Diversity says all five sheriffs along the Big Bend border region have opposed barrier construction.
Texas state Representative James Talarico, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, called the project "a monument to corruption," saying local sheriffs, mayors and business owners have told him it would not improve public safety. "This week, over the objections of local leaders and communities, bulldozers showed up anyway, wrecking one of our nation's greatest treasures to build an expensive wall on an already existing natural barrier," Talarico said in a statement, calling instead for modernized surveillance technology and more Border Patrol agents rather than what he described as no-bid contracts.
More than 140 outfitters, recreation groups and local businesses have urged Texas leaders to halt or modify the project, warning that barriers and roads could damage river access and threaten a tourism economy built around outdoor recreation. Mike Davidson, a river tour guide who has lived and worked in the Big Bend region since the 1970s, told Newsweek there has been little to no communication from the federal government with locals about the changes. "It's mainly going to be confined to the river corridor, which, for me, is very, very important. I'm a river guy," Davidson said, comparing the construction to sending a bulldozer through a graveyard. He said the region offers visitors, many from stressful urban lives, a rare mental health outlet in a natural setting.
The dispute over Big Bend is unfolding alongside other border construction conflicts across Texas. In Presidio County, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham sent a cease-and-desist letter to CBP and contractor Barnard Construction after the General Land Office said more than a mile of state-owned land was cleared without authorization. The GLO said its leases do not permit land modification or construction without written consent, and that the unauthorized work disrupted grazing land and reduced its value. "Texas sovereignty will not be infringed upon by failure to follow established protocol," Buckingham said, adding that Barnard must work with CBP and the property's lessee on a reclamation plan.
Separately, the city of Presidio and its economic development district have challenged federal plans to build border infrastructure through the levee system that protects the community, arguing it could raise flood risks. A federal judge, Reggie B. Walton, denied a request to temporarily halt that project this week, ruling that while Presidio raised "understandable concerns," the plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed on the merits. The wave of construction and legal challenges coincided with new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin's first trip to the southern border since his confirmation, when he visited Brownsville alongside CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott.
