Texas State Representative and U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico criticized plans to expand border wall construction through the Big Bend region during a recent town hall, arguing the area’s rugged terrain already provides a formidable natural barrier.
Speaking about immigration and border security, Talarico said he supports securing the border but questioned whether building additional wall through Big Bend is an effective use of resources.
“The current administration is trying to build a wall through Big Bend,” Talarico said. “Anybody who’s been to Big Bend National Park, you know that God has already built a wall in Big Bend.”
He argued that constructing a man-made barrier through the region would damage sensitive desert habitat while providing little benefit in an area he described as one of the least-trafficked sections of the U.S.-Mexico border.
“The fact that they’re going to destroy this beautiful habitat to build a man-made fence in the least-trafficked section of the border makes no sense at all,” he said.
Instead of expanding the wall in Big Bend, Talarico called for investments in immigration policies and border infrastructure that he believes would have a greater impact.
“What we have to do is create more legal pathways for hardworking immigrants who want to keep living in our country,” he said. “We need more immigration judges. We need to reform our asylum system. We have to relieve the visa backlog. And we’ve got to modernize our ports of entry so we can actually detect things like fentanyl that are trying to come into our country.”
Talarico framed his comments as an argument for directing resources toward modernizing ports of entry, reducing immigration court backlogs and expanding lawful immigration rather than constructing additional barriers through the remote landscapes of the Big Bend region.
The remarks come as border wall construction in Far West Texas continues to generate debate among elected officials, conservation groups, landowners and residents over its potential impacts on the region’s unique environment, wildlife corridors and public lands.
