Border Wall Being Built in Texas National Park Will Cause 'Irreparable Damage' to Wildlife, Expert Says
“I need your help,” pleads Anna Claire Beasley. Nadya Balabanova, Alexia, @Nomadikyoga, and countless others are calling out Texans to sign the petition and appeal to Congress to not ravage the natural beauty of their beloved Big Bend National Park. President Donald Trump’s government announced its plan to construct a "smart wall" border along the park to fortify it against illegal entry. Recently, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that Parsons Government Services will manage the completion of construction of the border wall, which is supposed to stretch 175 miles through the Big Bend region.
Locals are sad. For many of them, the announcement has come as blatantly “infuriating,” “nauseating,” and “heartbreaking,” as they remarked on Reddit. The story started when it came to the officials' notice that thousands of pounds of drugs were being secretly bartered across the southwest border of the Big Bend. After discussions, they launched the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which gave the DHS a $46.5 billion investment to complete building the border wall. The plan was to ramp up the security with border surveillance technology. As the construction efforts intensify, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has released an updated map of the proposed route, something that has only fueled the backlash from locals.
According to the old map, the construction was supposed to be a "technology only" project, intended to cover the entire national park, spanning 800,000 acres of the Chihuahuan Desert terrain. Recently, officials have released an updated map that outlines a plan for a new 112-mile "primary border wall system" project along the Rio Grande covering much of the park. According to the maps rolled out by CBP, the barrier is intended to cover the area along Big Bend’s southern boundary, which borders Mexico, with an estimated completion deadline of 2028. Residents are furious. They believe that the border wall will not only threaten the wildlife but also exacerbate flooding risks, cause infrastructure degradation, fragment vital habitats, choke busy migration routes, and isolate species like black bears and mountain lions, as the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) reported.
While locals are vigorously appealing to Congress to halt the border wall construction, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin is counting the positives that the border might inspire. McLaughlin reflected that the Border Patrol has released “zero illegal aliens into the interior of the country” for the last nine months, and the CBP has recorded the lowest total number of encounters in the agency’s history in 2025.
In response to the updated map, NPCA official Cary Dupuy warned that the border wall will cause “irreparable damage” to the country’s most iconic park. "Big Bend is no place for a border wall," she said, adding, "Building a wall here makes no logistical sense and only serves to harm the region’s wild scenery and thriving community-based tourism economy." She believes that wildlife and people on both sides of the wall would be affected, and that "nobody would be the winner here.” The government should, instead, look for solutions that will not destroy the national treasure they have, paradoxically, committed to protect. “Spread the word,” Beasley urges. Emma Keteler asserts, “Don’t let government destroy your backyard."
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