Local residents stage a weekly roadside protest against proposed border wall construction on April 11, 2026 in Terlingua, Texas. Trump Administration plans to extend the U.S.-Mexico border wall into the region sparked rare bipartisan unity among Texans against construction through one of the most rugged and pristine parts of the United States. Critics of the proposal say there is no need for a wall there, citing the low number of immigrants who attempt to cross through the area's forbidding terrain. John Moore/Getty Images
CBP backs off border wall construction plans in Big Bend National Park
The agency says it will use surveillance technology and infrastructure upgrades in the park after bipartisan opposition to the proposed wall project.
Plans to build portions of the border wall in Big Bend National Park are off after bipartisan backlash over the proposed construction, a top U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official told the Washington Examiner.
CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said the Trump administration was no longer planning to construct the wall within the national park following pushback from residents, the Examiner reported this week.
“Big Bend National Park has some just, like, unbelievably huge granite cliffs. It would be kind of silly to put like a 30-foot border wall on top of a 90-foot granite cliff,” Scott said in an interview with the Examiner. “So what we’re trying to convey is that we are going to have meaningful border security in that entire area.”
Scott's comments only referenced the national park and did not detail whether CBP's withdrawal from wall construction also included the nearby Big Bend Ranch State Park or private property in the region.
CBP officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment about updated plans.
Instead of a wall, federal officials will pave roads along the border in the national park and make use of drones and other digital surveillance equipment, Scott said. News of the cancellation comes after weeks of upheaval in Texas as elected officials from both political parties and residents asserted that construction in the park would be a waste of resources.
In February, Trump administration officials 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.
Then in early April, an interactive map on the CBP website showed the agency planned to instead install “virtual wall” technology in the region that would alert Border Patrol agents when people cross the border. CBP officials took down the map in late April, and it is not currently available on the agency’s website.
Local residents near Big Bend sued the Trump administration in mid-April, arguing that federal officials waived the regulations illegally in pursuit of the construction project.
Funds acquired through the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” President Donald Trump’s key spending package, direct CBP to construct a multifaceted barrier system, or a “Smart Wall,” across the southern border with Mexico. The proposed barriers would include bollard walls and patrol roads, as well as surveillance technology and floating buoys placed in the Rio Grande.
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.