U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Rodney Scott has ordered a Big Bend border wall pause, halting all construction activity at Big Bend National Park pending a personal evaluation, site visits with local stakeholders and consultation with law enforcement in the region. The decision, announced on 17 August via a post on X, puts a temporary stop to a $1.7 billion project that began bulldozing on 5 August.
Waivers Cleared the Path Before the Big Bend Border Wall Pause
Construction got underway only after a series of legal obstacles were removed at the federal level. According to ABC News, former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem waived certain laws that had previously blocked work from beginning. The scope of those waivers was broad: CNN reports that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) waived numerous laws protecting environmental, historical and cultural resources, among them the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act. Those waivers effectively allowed construction to proceed inside the more than 1,200-square-mile park without the usual environmental or cultural compliance requirements, and without public involvement.
Prior to the bulldozers moving in, CBP had told TheTravel that the project was still ‘in the initial stages of planning and design.’ The initial proposal had called for 17 miles of metal barriers, over 200 miles of patrol roads, and accompanying communications infrastructure, power cables and surveillance systems. The agency subsequently updated its Smart Wall Map to include a new route on Mariscal Mountain, a limestone ridge within the park that contains the historic Mariscal Mine.
Scott’s Commitment and What Comes Next
Recording himself at an airport before flying to Texas, Scott described his reasoning plainly. ‘I just landed in Texas, headed to Big Bend National Park. Last night, I put a pause on all activity in that park as far as construction goes until I can get down there and do a personal evaluation, talk to some stakeholders, talk to local law enforcement in that area, and more to follow this week,’ he said. In the post’s caption, Scott stated that CBP ‘is firmly committed to protecting America, and that includes our national treasures like Big Bend National Park.’
Scott said his on-the-ground evaluation would focus on the terrain and involve conversations with local leadership and community members. He has not yet announced what follows once that review is complete.
Bob Krumenaker, former Superintendent of Big Bend National Park from 2018 to 2023 and chair of advocacy organisation Keep Big Bend Wild, welcomed the pause with caution. ‘While this is encouraging, it’s premature to declare victory. But Commissioner Scott’s presence on site and his temporary pause are clear signs that the administration is feeling the pressure from their constituents,’ he said in a statement to TheTravel. Krumenaker added that the sector in question ‘has the least illegal activity anywhere on the US southern border,’ and called Scott’s forthcoming actions ‘critical.’
Krumenaker had earlier provided TheTravel with photographs of construction activity inside the park, describing bulldozers ‘clearing a right of way for a new road, likely a patrol road.’ That new road leads toward the popular Cottonwood Campground and the Castolon Historic District. CBP had said it would use existing roads but has not explained the addition of a new route alongside one already in place. ‘The consequences for Cottonwood Campground are unknown, but likely devastating,’ Krumenaker stated.
The commissioner had previously told Congress that the agency did not intend to build a border wall inside Big Bend itself. However, former park leaders have consistently questioned the government’s stated intentions given the contradictions they say appear in CBP’s own documentation. The Smart Wall Map, for instance, first removed and then reintroduced a border wall within the park’s boundaries. A CBP spokesperson told TheTravel that the agency has ‘no plans for blasting of Mariscal Mountain’ and confirmed it would work with the National Park Service to keep the Rio Grande River and hiking trails accessible during and after construction.
Krumenaker, alongside other former national park superintendents and a former deputy superintendent, wrote an open letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin requesting clarity on what DHS and CBP actually plan to build. In that letter, the former park leaders described the DHS’s 9 June waiver as ‘devastating,’ while also outlining how border security enhancements could proceed with less harm to the park. Texas Senator John Cornyn wrote separately on 7 August, raising concerns that physical barriers, access roads and lighting systems would damage wildlife corridors, threaten Native American heritage sites and hurt an area economy heavily reliant on tourism.
Between fiscal years 2021 and 2025, some 89,000 illegal border crossings were attempted in the sector, though last year represented a 74% decline from 2023 levels, according to CBP. Scott’s on-site evaluation is expected to shape what, if any, construction activity resumes at the park.
