{"id":225733,"date":"2026-04-03T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/?p=225733"},"modified":"2026-04-03T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T10:00:00","slug":"texas-border-wall-big-bend-national-park-ranch-state-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2026\/04\/03\/texas-border-wall-big-bend-national-park-ranch-state-park\/","title":{"rendered":"A border wall through Big Bend appears to be on hold after public outcry, but questions remain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February, the Trump administration waived<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA 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,\u201d said Isaac Saul, who writes a political newsletter called the Tangle<\/a> and has a home in Brewster County, where Big Bend is located.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sheriffs of Brewster, Culberson, Hudspeth, Presidio and Terrell counties \u2014 a mix of Democrats and Republicans \u2014 wrote an open letter <\/a>that said: \u201cBased 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local officials in nearby Alpine, along with Presidio and Hudspeth counties, have approved resolutions opposing the wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After strong opposition, the Trump administration apparently changed its plans: 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, as of April 2. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesperson for the Border Patrol\u2019s Big Bend Sector told Marfa Public Radio <\/a>last week that there are \u201ccurrently no plans for border wall construction\u201d in the state park, which borders Big Bend National Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Trump administration hasn\u2019t made any official announcement about its plans, the CBP website<\/a> now shows the agency instead plans to install \u201cvirtual wall\u201d technology through the rugged region that would alert Border Patrol agents when people cross the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s unclear if these plans are final, since the map legend has continuously changed in the past few weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advocates and residents say they are happy their efforts have apparently helped halt the plans to build a border barrier through the state park. But the fight isn\u2019t over, they say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t consider this a win yet because there\u2019s still a lot of unanswered questions,\u201d said Anna Claire, 29, a photographer who lives near Terlingua and led an online petition<\/a> with more than 100,000 signatures opposing a barrier. \u201cI would say a win is no border wall, period. The whole basis for this wall is that there is a crisis, but there isn\u2019t a crisis and their own data doesn\u2019t back that up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Documents obtained by Inside Climate News<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Border Patrol\u2019s 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 \u2014 accounting for just 1.3%<\/a> of the 237,538 apprehensions recorded across the entire U.S.-Mexico border. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government has sent letters to some landowners along the river, threatening to condemn some of their land through eminent domain if owners don\u2019t willingly allow the federal government access to their land. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t 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.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the wall is going to get in my way, I don\u2019t want it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disclosure: Texas Parks And Wildlife Department has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete\u00a0list of them here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the federal government hasn\u2019t made a public statement about its plans, official maps show a \u201cvirtual wall\u201d going through the region rather than a physical barrier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":155,"featured_media":225328,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"everlit_article_id":"","everlit_hide_embed":false,"everlit_embed_size":"","everlit_generation_settings":[],"_everlit_article_id":"","_everlit_hide_embed":false,"_everlit_embed_size":"","_everlit_generation_settings":[],"_everlit_content_hash":"","_everlit_metadata_hash":"","newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-04-03T10:00:26Z","apple_news_api_id":"820e7fef-8257-4ebd-b3a4-b35e6fbf7d4d","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-04-03T10:00:26Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Agg5_74JXTr2zpLNeb799TQ","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"_photon_skip_featured_image":false,"_photon_quality_featured_image":0,"manual_modified_date":"2026-04-03 05:00:00","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1812,1813,1853,3860,3851],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"tt_series":[],"coauthors":[229],"class_list":["post-225733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-immigration","tag-border-security","tag-border-wall","tag-brewster-county","tag-presidio-county","tag-well-b-homepage","entry"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nFederal map shows no plan for border wall through Big Bend<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While the federal government hasn\u2019t made a public statement about its plans, official maps show a \u201cvirtual wall\u201d going through the region rather than a physical barrier.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2026\/04\/03\/texas-border-wall-big-bend-national-park-ranch-state-park\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Federal map shows no plan for border wall through Big Bend\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While the federal government hasn\u2019t made a public statement about its plans, official maps show a \u201cvirtual wall\u201d going through the region rather than a physical barrier.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2026\/04\/03\/texas-border-wall-big-bend-national-park-ranch-state-park\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Texas Tribune\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-03T10:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texastribune.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0123-Terlingua-Water-EH-18.jpg?quality=89&w=1200&h=630&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Uriel J. 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