Trump Admin Pauses Border Project in Texas Big Bend National Park

CBP Chief Rodney Scott is planning an on-site review after bipartisan pushback over a border wall through the remote Texas park.

A Big Bend National Park sign at the west side entrance near Maverick Junction in Big Bend National Park, Texas, on May 24, 2019. Jacob Ford/Odessa American via AP

The Trump administration said Monday it is temporarily pausing construction of a contentious border project in Texas’s Big Bend National Park.

Rodney Scott, who leads Customs and Border Protection, is scheduled to visit the site.

“CBP is pausing all construction activity in Big Bend National Park while I visit and conduct a personal, on-the-ground evaluation,” he said on X.

Scott said that over the next couple of days, he plans to “listen to local leadership, community members, and stakeholders” as the administration looks to continue protecting the park while addressing “real” national security threats.

The project has drawn fierce bipartisan opposition. Critics say it undermines the area’s pristine environment. They say the region’s rugged and remote terrain already deters illegal immigrants and smugglers.

The Big Bend Sector—responsible for 517 miles or roughly one-quarter of the U.S. Southwest border—is employing a strategy that balances personnel, technology, and infrastructure to secure the border.

Border crossings there have historically been lower than in other regions and have dropped further over the past two years, according to CBP data. There were 11,823 apprehensions in 2023 and 3,096 apprehensions in 2025—a 74 percent decrease. As of July, there have been 1,025 apprehensions so far in 2026. The August figures have not been released.

It remains unclear whether the brief suspension signals a longer halt.

Congress earmarked $46 billion last summer to build a wall from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Officials have waived numerous regulations to speed the work. Scott has said he expects the first layer of the wall to be completed by the end of next year.

Local Opposition

Opposition has been especially fierce in Texas near Big Bend National Park and a state park to the west. Customs and Border Protection earlier this year backed off plans for a 30-foot-tall bollard wall through the parks. It has continued with other measures: a new road, lights, miles of barriers meant to stop vehicles, and technology such as fiber optic cables buried under fences.

That approach has drawn ire from Democratic and Republican sheriffs in the region, former national park officials, local residents who depend on the parks for their livelihoods, and some Texas elected officials. Critics say the work will mar the rugged landscape that draws tourists who raft the Rio Grande and take advantage of some of the clearest night skies in the United States.

Bulldozers were seen clearing land at the park last week, raising fresh concern and questions from one of the state’s Republican senators. At the time, the Department of Homeland Security said on X that the activity involved “survey and design work.”

“We are working to preserve the landscape and protect the access visitors and local residents depend on,” it stated.

Sen. John Cornyn, who lost the Republican primary to the state’s attorney general, wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin about the construction.

“My constituents believe that the 1,000-foot riverbank cliffs and remote Big Bend terrain offers its own source of deterrence for any illegal migrants crossing into the United States,” Cornyn wrote. “The dangerous terrain includes steep mountains, deep canyons, and expansive deserts, which they believe act as a natural barrier that limits large-scale movements.”

Environmental activist group Center for Biological Diversity, which sued Homeland Security over its decision to waive regulations to speed projects in the Big Bend region, warned on Monday that construction of the wall could resume “at any moment” and that it remains opposed to the construction.