The Department of Homeland Security waived dozens of environmental laws Monday to ease the way for construction of border barriers and roads through Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park.
DHS’s notice of determination, which goes into effect Tuesday, is the latest action by the federal government that environmentalists read as preparations to construct a physical border wall through the revered West Texas parkland.
Even though the Trump White House has given numerous assurances over the past few months that it doesn’t plan to build a physical wall through the public lands, watchdog groups argue the administration is still waiving laws and earmarking inflated budgets as if preparing to do just that.
Monday was the first time in U.S. history that the federal government has cast aside such a broad slate of environmental laws — including provisions to protect public lands, endangered species and fragile ecologies — in a national park, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
The dozens of laws waived by the Trump administration include the National Park Service Organic Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, officials with the organization said.
“The absolute disdain this administration has for our national parks is disgraceful, and now they’re targeting Texas’ most beloved national park,” Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a press release.
“The only people benefiting from this destruction are the billionaire contractors set to pad their pockets while paving over our natural heritage and permanently locking a great American river behind hideous steel barriers,” Jordahl added. “We won’t stop fighting for this crown-jewel national park and the Rio Grande.”
Customs and Border Protection’s online map no longer shows a steel barrier planned for the public lands, and media reports have indicated that only smaller, stand-alone steel vehicle barriers and patrol roads are planned for this stretch of border.
However, Monday’s waiver authorizes construction of full barrier infrastructure, including “fencing, barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors.”
The funding also appears more consistent with a larger project, according to environmental advocates. In May, DHS awarded a $1.7 billion contract for border work through the national park. The contract explicitly states it is “for border wall through Big Bend.”
Last week, the department awarded another $2.6 billion contract — the costliest federal border construction pact in history — for the Lower Canyons stretch of the Wild and Scenic Rio Grande.
Such a high cost for what’s been officially said to no longer include a physical barrier had some environmentalists scratching their heads and others calling the Trump administration’s bluff.
Big Bend National Park spans more than 800,000 acres of Chihuahuan Desert, craggy mountains and the Rio Grande River. The park’s southern boundary forms more than 100 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. However, locals insist that the land’s naturally rugged features, inhospitable conditions and remote location make border crossings infrequent in the area and render a physical wall unnecessary.
Migrant crossings in the Big Bend Sector have also fallen to a historic low, accounting for just 2% of total apprehensions nationwide, according to numbers provided by CBP.
Feds report a 74% drop in border crossings in the Big Bend Sector from fiscal 2023 to 2025, totaling 11,823 apprehensions in 2023 and 3,096 in 2025. The Big Bend Sector includes a wider swath of land than just the public parks, accounting for 517 miles or roughly one-quarter of the U.S. Southwest border.
Environmentalists argue that a physical wall would disrupt migratory patterns for many species of wildlife, including some that are endangered.
In May, seven former superintendents of Big Bend National Park wrote a letter urging the Department of Homeland Security not to waive laws within the national park.
Even if a border wall isn’t constructed, the Center for Biological Diversity argues that “new barriers, associated infrastructure and patrol roads through this region would damage roadless canyon country, impede river access, fragment wildlife habitat and flood one of America’s darkest night skies with artificial light.”
DHS remains secretive about its plans for the region, which seem to change frequently. In response, the Center sued the federal agency in April under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain public records of the plans.
“These horrific plans are an affront to the millions of Americans who treasure Big Bend,” Jordahl said. “Politicians who’ve never set foot here are signing a death warrant for this wild and beautiful place.”
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