Border Wall Through Big Bend Appears to be on Hold

By Uriel J. Garcia, The Texas Tribune

TERLINGUA, TX — In February, the Trump administration waived over two dozen environmental laws to clear the way for a 150-mile-long border barrier through West Texas, including Big Bend National Park and the adjoining state park, a rugged and scenic stretch with unscalable canyons along the Rio Grande.

But as word spread that the Trump administration planned to erect a 30-foot-tall barrier to deter people from crossing the border illegally, people and officials from both political parties have made their opposition clear.

“A border wall in the Big Bend region is an absurd, wasteful, counterproductive idea that is loathed by nearly every person who has ever lived or visited there,” said Isaac Saul, who writes a political newsletter called the Tangle and has a home in Brewster County, where Big Bend is located.

The sheriffs of Brewster, Culberson, Hudspeth, Presidio and Terrell counties — a mix of Democrats and Republicans — wrote an open letter that said: “Based on decades of combined experience working with this terrain, we believe that construction of a continuous physical border wall in the Big Bend region would not represent the most practical or strategic approach to border security in this area.”

Local officials in nearby Alpine, along with Presidio and Hudspeth counties, have approved resolutions opposing the wall.

Now the Trump administration appears to have changed its plans as a map on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website no longer indicates that a border wall will be constructed in the Big Bend region from the state park to the Amistad National Recreation Area in Del Rio.

A spokesperson for the Border Patrol’s Big Bend Sector told Marfa Public Radio last week that there are “currently no plans for border wall construction” in the state park, which borders Big Bend National Park.

While the Trump administration hasn’t made any official announcement about its plans, the CBP website shows the agency instead plans to install “virtual wall” technology through the rugged region that would alert Border Patrol agents when people cross the border.

Documents obtained by Inside Climate News show the Border Patrol has sought access to Big Bend Ranch and other state parks to lay the groundwork for border barrier construction. Letters sent by the Border Patrol to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department included detailed maps of where the border barrier would go within Big Bend Ranch, Seminole Canyon and Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley state parks.

The Border Patrol’s Big Bend Sector, which encompasses 517 miles of the 1,950-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border, has historically been the least busy of the nine sectors. In fiscal year 2025, Border Patrol recorded 3,096 apprehensions in the Big Bend sector — accounting for just 1.3% of the 237,538 apprehensions recorded across the entire U.S.-Mexico border.

Last year, Congress approved $46.5 billion for the Trump administration to erect border barriers and add detection technology in different parts of the 2,000-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border. Contractors have started construction in parts of California, Arizona and New Mexico. But in Texas, where land along the border is privately owned, the administration has faced obstacles and opposition.

The government has sent letters to some landowners along the river, threatening to condemn some of their land through eminent domain if owners don’t willingly allow the federal government access to their land. 

Luis Armendariz, 83, who owns about 1,000 acres of farmland and a hardware store in Presidio, about 100 miles upriver from Big Bend, said he received one of those letters and doesn’t see the need for a barrier in the area. He worries that a barrier would cut off his access to irrigation water from the river. 

“If the wall is going to get in my way, I don’t want it,” he said.