U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott is defending plans for new vehicle barriers, patrol roads and surveillance infrastructure in Big Bend National Park, signaling Thursday that the agency intends to move forward despite mounting opposition from residents, conservationists and elected officials.
“We are securing this park to protect its legacy,” Scott said in a statement Thursday. “Keeping it safe, secure, and pristine so American families can enjoy the beauty of our country, free from fear of cartel activity, for generations to come.”
The statement comes as images of bulldozers clearing vegetation inside Big Bend National Park have fueled a growing backlash over the federal government’s plans for one of the country’s most remote and environmentally sensitive national parks. Heavy equipment has been documented working near Santa Elena Canyon, one of the park’s best-known landmarks.
CBP says it does not plan to construct the 30-foot steel border wall proposed elsewhere in the Big Bend region inside the national park. Instead, plans call for vehicle barriers, surveillance technology and extensive construction and improvements to patrol roads in and around the park.
Scott said the infrastructure is necessary to prevent smugglers and cartels from shifting their operations into Big Bend as enforcement increases elsewhere along the Southwest border.
“These improvements will help our agents detect illegal crossings, respond faster, and assist visitors in danger,” Scott said. “As we strengthen the border across the Southwest, we will not leave Big Bend as an opening for cartels to exploit by shifting their routes and tactics.”
Scott characterized the activity currently underway in the park as survey and design work and said CBP is working to protect the landscape and maintain access for visitors and businesses.
Critics dispute that characterization, pointing to photographs and videos showing bulldozers clearing vegetation and cutting paths through areas near the Rio Grande. Conservationists say work near Santa Elena Canyon has already affected sensitive riparian habitat.
The controversy has increasingly crossed party lines.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, this week urged Homeland Security officials to consult with West Texas residents and local officials before proceeding with additional construction. Cornyn cited concerns from sheriffs, county judges, landowners and park advocates about the potential environmental, cultural and economic effects of border infrastructure in the region.
Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland, a Republican and former Border Patrol agent, has also publicly opposed construction of barriers in the Big Bend region. Cleveland, who has described Scott as a friend and former colleague, recently invited the commissioner to visit the area and see the terrain firsthand.
Cleveland has said he supports border barriers where they are effective but does not believe they make sense across Big Bend’s rugged landscape.
“Rodney, you are my friend, and my invitation stands,” Cleveland wrote in a social media post. “Come down to Big Bend. Let me show you what I’m seeing on the ground. I also want to hear your perspective.”
The government’s justification for the project has also drawn scrutiny because Big Bend historically experiences some of the lowest levels of illegal border crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Border Patrol’s Big Bend Sector covers 517 miles of the Rio Grande, nearly one-quarter of the entire Southwest border. Yet agents recorded 3,096 apprehensions there during fiscal year 2025, accounting for about 1.3% of apprehensions along the southern border. That represented a 74% decline from fiscal year 2023.
Crossings inside the national park itself are rarer. The advocacy organization Keep Big Bend Wild has said apprehensions within the park have averaged roughly 100 to 200 annually since 2023.
Those numbers have become central to opponents’ argument that the environmental cost of the project is disproportionate to the security problem it is intended to address.
Former Big Bend National Park Superintendent Bob Krumenaker, now chairman of Keep Big Bend Wild, said vegetation being cleared near Santa Elena Canyon includes riparian forest that provides habitat for the threatened yellow-billed cuckoo.
“It’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the damage they may or will do to the national park if this continues,” Krumenaker told Marfa Public Radio.
The advocacy group No Big Bend Wall responded directly to Scott’s defense of the project Thursday, arguing that what residents are witnessing on the ground conflicts with the federal government’s description of the work.
“Washington doesn’t get to contradict what we can see with our own eyes,” the organization said.
Big Bend National Park encompasses more than 800,000 acres of Chihuahuan Desert, mountains and Rio Grande river habitat and draws hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. Unlike many stretches of the southern border, much of the park has historically had no physical border barrier, with the river and rugged terrain forming the international boundary.
The dispute now places Scott and CBP against an increasingly broad coalition that includes environmental organizations, tourism businesses, West Texas residents, former National Park Service officials and Republican and Democratic elected officials.
For now, Scott’s Thursday statement makes clear that the growing opposition has not persuaded the agency to abandon the project.
CBP maintains the new infrastructure will protect both the border and Big Bend National Park. Opponents increasingly argue that protecting Big Bend means leaving much of it as it is.
