Bulldozers Clear Big Bend for $1.72 Billion Wall

Federal contractors have started clearing land with bulldozers inside Big Bend National Park in Texas, preliminary work ahead of a $1.72 billion border security project, US Customs and Border Protection told CNN.

The work is proceeding under waivers of federal environmental, wildlife and historic preservation laws issued by the Homeland Security secretary — not under the usual park review process.

Opposition is bipartisan: a Republican border sheriff, Sen. John Cornyn, House Democrats, environmental groups and a retired Big Bend superintendent are all pushing back. The park sees only about 1% of unauthorized crossing apprehensions, according to CNN.

What Is Being Built

CBP says it is not planning the 30-foot-high barrier used in parts of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas inside the national park itself. The agency's plan is a "Smart Wall" mix of barriers, patrol roads and surveillance technology, including roughly 205 miles of detection systems in the Big Bend Sector, with alignments and mileage still subject to change as designs are finalized.

The $1.72 billion is designated for work inside Big Bend National Park, part of a roughly $7 billion program for the wider Big Bend sector and the $46.5 billion allocated for border wall construction in President Donald Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," according to CNN.

According to Newsweek, CBP's current Smart Wall map places a planned patrol road across Mariscal Mountain — a nine-mile limestone ridge inside the park that rises to 3,932 feet above the Rio Grande. CBP has not published detailed engineering plans for that road. The Center for Biological Diversity said on Aug. 6 the route would require "extensive dynamite blasting"; House Democrats say the same. Whether blasting will actually be used has not been confirmed by the agency.

Under What Authority

In February, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem waived certain federal laws covering environmental safety, historic preservation and wildlife protection in the Big Bend region, citing "an acute and immediate need to construct additional physical barriers and roads." The waiver was published in the Federal Register on Feb. 17, 2026, under Section 102 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.

Current DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin issued a further waiver of federal law published July 2, 2026, according to CNN.

DHS and CBP defend the project as necessary for the Big Bend Sector, citing more than 89,000 migrant encounters between fiscal years 2021 and 2025 along with drug seizures and other enforcement activity, Newsweek reported. The sector covers about 517 miles of border and extends well beyond the park.

Crossings there have collapsed. CBP data show 148 encounters in the Big Bend Sector in June 2026, down from 412 in June 2023. In the first nine months of fiscal 2026 the sector recorded 1,509 encounters, versus 10,291 in the same period of fiscal 2023 — an 85% decline.