Published August 18, 2026 01:30PM
The bulldozers and backhoes that spent the past week digging into fragile desert ecosystems across Big Bend National Park are quiet today, August 18. That’s because on late Sunday, August 16, the Trump Administration ordered a temporary halt to the construction of the highly contentious stretch of border wall through Texas’ most famous NPS site, which sits on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The decision marked the latest wrinkle in the months-long battle between the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency and a coalition of locals, nonprofits, and public land advocates who oppose the wall. You may have followed the drip-drip of news and updates on Outside over the past six months.
How will the fight play out? How long will the halt last? You’d have a better shot at guessing the upcoming Mega Millions lotto number than predicting an outcome. But if you’re curious about how we got to this point, Outside has a handy explainer.
Tell me more about the decision to halt the wall.
The official decision to halt the wall on Sunday night was made by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Rodney Scott. Like seemingly all major public announcements, Scott made his via a short-form video on Instagram and X that would make any influencer proud. While strolling through a Texas airport, Scott announced that the project was on pause. He then said he was traveling to Big Bend to “conduct a personal, on-the-ground evaluation.”
“Talk to some stakeholders. Talk to local law enforcement in that area,” Scott said, before teasing his final decision as if it were a new album drop. “More to follow this week.”
So, did they actually stop digging?
According to multiple eyewitnesses at Big Bend, yes. Jenna Cantrell, a Terlingua, Texas, local and anti-wall advocate, told the New York Times that she was on-site in Big Bend and that the construction had stopped. “They’re not working. We didn’t see any contractor traffic at all,” she said.
On Monday, August 17, reporters from Marfa Public Radio actually flew over the construction zone in an airplane. They saw no construction activity—although they did see the backhoes and bulldozers parked at the start of a new road that’s being plowed through the sandstone bluffs.
What damage did they already do?
It’s not great. Crews began bulldozing trees and bushes starting on August 6 to build a road and a camp for workers. The Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit that was one of the first organizations to sue the Department of Homeland Security over the border wall, published videos of the opening days of destruction.
The land torn up is just adjacent to Santa Elena Canyon, one of the primary attractions at the park, and home to 1,500-foot cliffs on either side of the Rio Grande. Overhead images of the area, shot by the reporters from Marfa Public Radio, show a bulldozed new roadway across a lengthy stretch of sand and sandstone.
The crews work for Southwest Valley Construction Company, which earlier this year was awarded the $1.72 billion contract to build the border wall through Big Bend National Park. That original plan called for 17 miles of noncontiguous vehicle barriers and the building of new roads. So, while the destruction to Big Bend is significant, it’s not nearly as extreme as what has been called for.
Why did CBP call off the bulldozers?
It’s a great question, and at this point, nobody knows for sure. But a few people are claiming responsibility for having convinced CBP to stop. Chief amongst those is Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, who said on Monday that he personally spoke to Scott’s boss, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, over the weekend about the construction.
“With regard to the announcement of the pause, that seems to be a consequence of my conversation with the Secretary this weekend,” Abbott said at a press conference. “He committed to me that they will not be building a wall or a fence in Big Bend National Park.”
Another person taking credit is Thaddeus Cleveland, the Sheriff for nearby Terrell County, and a retired Border Patrol agent. Cleveland has said publicly that a border wall in Big Bend is unnecessary. He told The Texas Tribune that he’s a longtime friend of Scott, and that he has spoken with the CBP chief about the project.
Texas Senator John Cornyn, another Republican, also wrote a letter to Mullin in early August raising concerns about the proposed wall, and how it would disrupt wildlife, harm the local economy, and ruin the landscape.
“Recently, a bipartisan group of Texas border sheriffs and county judges, private landowners, and the Big Bend Park advocates have raised significant concerns about the DHS’s proposed construction of border barriers in Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park,” Cornyn wrote.
But the underlying force that prompted Abbott, Cleveland, and Cornyn to take action, of course, was millions of people in Texas angrily clamoring for the construction to stop.
Wow, so Republicans didn’t like this wall either.
There’s been a tremendous amount of ink spilled about just how unpopular the border wall project is within Texas. Locals have staged too many protests to count, ranchers are pissed, and so is a growing chorus of people who rely on Big Bend tourism for their livelihood.
Public lands advocacy groups have done their part to release statements, fundraise, organize marches, and rally on-the-ground opposition. But it does seem that the growing bipartisan nature of the opposition began to weigh on lawmakers. Laiken Jordahl, a longtime advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, told Outside that the opposition across the aisle was unorthodox.
“It’s been so different compared to other border wall battles I’ve been a part of which have been more along partisan lines,” Jordahl told Outside. “Everyone in that region, even the Trump-supporting sheriffs, are upset about this, and they’re not backing down.”
In March, a group of five borderlands county sheriffs—including Cleveland—sent a letter to the Trump Administration condemning the plan for a border wall.
On August 15, 43 members of the Texas House of Representatives sent a letter to Governor Abbott asking the Trump Administration to stop the wall. The letter was bipartisan-ish—40 Democrats and 3 Republicans signed the letter. But the Republican signers seemed to hint that the border wall’s unpopularity with voters could harm their careers.
Wes Virdell, a Republican state rep from Brady, Texas, told news site KXAN that he fears Republicans could face backlash in the November elections if the border wall continued. “If people are watching Republicans not stand up for them down in South Texas, I think we’re going to lose the vote down there,” he said.
Will they start digging again?
Again, nobody knows. Scott said he was planning to meet with “stakeholders” in the area this week to discuss border protection infrastructure options that don’t include a wall or fences. We can assume that the local advocates, environmentalists, border sheriffs, and lawmakers are no doubt crossing their fingers, rubbing lucky rabbits’ feet, and searching for four-leaf clovers in the desert scrub, hoping that the temporary order becomes permanent.
What did public lands advocates learn from this ordeal?
It’s important to state that, alas, the Big Bend border wall ordeal isn’t over—yet. But the general public again learned that people across the United States love our national parks, and will do almost anything to prevent them from being plowed under and bulldozed.
To public lands advocates, the Big Bend ordeal likely reinforced the same lessons from 2025, when Utah Senator Mike Lee attempted to sell off huge swaths of public lands, only to be met with loud opposition from right-and left-leaning advocacy groups.
The federal government will continue to target public lands—yep, even those overseen by the National Park Service—for mining, logging, selloffs to private owners, and yeah, border walls. Just today, the Trump Administration announced its intentions to go forward with repealing the Roadless Rule on national forests. The feds are unlikely to back down to pressure from left-leaning nonprofits and advocates. But the minute that these groups can rally bipartisan opposition, the tables may turn.
“I’ve never seen opposition to a project be so unanimous and so nonpartisan,” Jordahl added. “It’s brought the greater Big Bend community together in ways that people couldn’t have dreamed of.”
