Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility is calling for a federal investigation into billions of dollars in border infrastructure contracts in the Big Bend region, raising questions about contractor selection, political influence, taxpayer spending and the waiving of environmental safeguards.
The environmental watchdog group, known as PEER, asked the Department of Homeland Security inspector general to examine contracts awarded for border construction in and around Big Bend, including projects involving Barnard Construction, Fisher Sand & Gravel and Southwest Valley Constructors.
The request comes as U.S. Customs and Border Protection has temporarily paused border infrastructure work in Big Bend National Park amid growing opposition to construction in the park. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott has said he plans to visit the area and review the project before work proceeds.
“A pause is welcome, but it does not answer the fundamental question of why billions of taxpayer dollars are being spent on these projects in the first place,” PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse said. “When politically connected contractors receive enormous government contracts for projects of questionable need while normal environmental and oversight safeguards are waived, the public deserves answers.”
PEER noted that the Big Bend sector has historically recorded comparatively low levels of unauthorized border crossings while the federal government has committed billions of dollars to new infrastructure in the region.
The group pointed to more than $3 billion in awards to Barnard Construction and Fisher Sand & Gravel for border wall construction in the broader Big Bend region.
According to PEER, Barnard Chairman Timothy Barnard and his wife contributed approximately $1.1 million to the Trump 47 Committee during the 2024 election cycle.
Fisher Sand & Gravel President Tommy Fisher has also donated to Republican political causes. His company attracted national scrutiny during President Donald Trump’s first administration after receiving a roughly $400 million border wall contract following Trump’s public advocacy for the company to receive federal consideration.
PEER is also questioning a $1.7 billion contract awarded to Southwest Valley Constructors for work involving Big Bend National Park. Federal contracting records initially described the award as construction of a “border wall in Big Bend, Texas.”
CBP has since said work planned inside the national park involves road construction and improvements, surveillance technology and vehicle barriers rather than a continuous 30-foot pedestrian wall.
PEER argues those projects could still cause significant environmental damage to the national park and surrounding areas.
The organization wants the DHS inspector general to examine how the contractors were selected, whether political relationships influenced contracting decisions, how the federal government determined the projects were necessary and why environmental review and other statutory requirements were waived.
The Trump administration has used federal authority to waive numerous environmental and historic preservation laws to expedite border construction.
PEER previously described waiving those protections in Big Bend as “fiscally reckless, ineffective, and an unconscionable sacrifice of one of America’s most irreplaceable wild landscapes.”
“Border development in and around Big Bend National Park should not become a blank check for politically connected contractors,” Whitehouse said. “Before another dollar is spent or another acre is disturbed, the administration should explain why taxpayers are paying billions to stop illegal immigration in one of America’s least crossed, most unique landscapes.”
