Published August 18, 2026 01:30PM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u2019s 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\u2019 most famous NPS site, which sits on the U.S.-Mexico border.<\/p>\n
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<\/em> over the past six months.<\/p>\n How will the fight play out? How long will the halt last? You\u2019d have a better shot at guessing the upcoming Mega Millions lotto number than predicting an outcome. But if you\u2019re curious about how we got to this point, Outside<\/em> has a handy explainer.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> 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 \u201cconduct a personal, on-the-ground evaluation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTalk to some stakeholders. Talk to local law enforcement in that area,\u201d Scott said, before teasing his final decision as if it were a new album drop. \u201cMore to follow this week.\u201d<\/p>\n According to multiple eyewitnesses at Big Bend, yes. Jenna Cantrell, a Terlingua, Texas, local and anti-wall advocate, told t<\/em>he New York Times<\/em><\/a> that she was on-site in Big Bend and that the construction had stopped. \u201cThey\u2019re not working. We didn\u2019t see any contractor traffic at all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n On Monday, August 17, reporters from Marfa Public Radio actually flew over the construction zone<\/a> in an airplane. They saw no construction activity\u2014although they did see the backhoes and bulldozers parked at the start of a new road that\u2019s being plowed through the sandstone bluffs.<\/p>\n It\u2019s 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<\/a> over the border wall, published videos of the opening days of destruction.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> of noncontiguous vehicle barriers and the building of new roads. So, while the destruction to Big Bend is significant, it\u2019s not nearly as extreme as what has been called for.<\/p>\n It\u2019s 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\u2019s boss, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, over the weekend about the construction.<\/p>\n \u201cWith regard to the announcement of the pause, that seems to be a consequence of my conversation with the Secretary this weekend,\u201d Abbott said at a press conference<\/a>. \u201cHe committed to me that they will not be building a wall or a fence in Big Bend National Park.\u201d<\/p>\n 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<\/em><\/a> that he\u2019s a longtime friend of Scott, and that he has spoken with the CBP chief about the project.<\/p>\n Texas Senator John Cornyn, another Republican, also wrote a letter to Mullin in early August<\/a> raising concerns about the proposed wall, and how it would disrupt wildlife, harm the local economy, and ruin the landscape.<\/p>\n \u201cRecently, 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\u2019s proposed construction of border barriers in Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park,\u201d Cornyn wrote.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n There\u2019s been a tremendous amount of ink spilled about\u00a0just how unpopular<\/em><\/a> 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.<\/p>\n 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\u00a0Outside<\/em> that the opposition across the aisle was unorthodox.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been so different compared to other border wall battles I\u2019ve been a part of which have been more along partisan lines,\u201d Jordahl told Outside.\u00a0<\/em>\u201cEveryone in that region, even the Trump-supporting sheriffs, are upset about this, and they\u2019re not backing down.\u201d<\/p>\n In March, a group of five borderlands county sheriffs\u2014including Cleveland\u2014sent a letter to the Trump Administration condemning the plan for a border wall.<\/p>\n 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\u201440 Democrats and 3 Republicans signed the letter. But the Republican signers\u00a0seemed to hint that the border wall\u2019s unpopularity with voters could harm their careers.<\/p>\n Wes Virdell, a Republican state rep from Brady, Texas, told news site KXAN<\/a> that he fears Republicans could face backlash in the November elections if the border wall continued. \u201cIf people are watching Republicans not stand up for them down in South Texas, I think we\u2019re going to lose the vote down there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Again, nobody knows. Scott said he was planning to meet with \u201cstakeholders\u201d in the area this week to discuss border protection infrastructure options that don\u2019t 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\u2019\u00a0feet, and searching for four-leaf clovers in the desert scrub, hoping that the temporary order becomes permanent.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to state that, alas, the Big Bend border wall ordeal isn\u2019t over\u2014yet. 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The federal government will continue to target public lands\u2014yep, even those overseen by the National Park Service\u2014for 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<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never seen opposition to a project be so unanimous and so nonpartisan,\u201d Jordahl added. \u201cIt\u2019s brought the greater Big Bend community together in ways that people couldn\u2019t have dreamed of.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\nTell me more about the decision to halt the wall.<\/h2>\n
So, did they actually stop digging?<\/h2>\n
What damage did they already do?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Why did CBP call off the bulldozers?<\/h2>\n
Wow, so Republicans didn\u2019t like this wall either.<\/h2>\n
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Will they start digging again?<\/h2>\n
What did public lands advocates learn from this ordeal?<\/h2>\n
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