Border wall won't be in Big Bend parks, officials say; advocates vow to keep fighting against wall on private land

On a sunny day in early March, Brewster County Sheriff Ronny Dodson spent an entire day with a CBS News Texas crew. He drove a producer and photojournalist from his home base in Alpine to Presidio, through the winding mountain roads of both Big Bend Ranch State Park and Big Bend National Park, and out to the wide and vast Black Gap Wildlife Management Area. He did it, he said, because he wanted to show them why he is among the voices that has spoken out against a planned border wall in the area. 

Since early February, residents of the Big Bend region have been outspoken about border wall plans — both on social media and through in-person events hosted in cities in Brewster and Presidio counties. A wall wouldn't just be a scar on the landscape, they said. It would also be unnecessary in a region that typically sees far fewer border crossings due to the harsh terrain.

Since news of a proposed border wall spread in February, plans have changed multiple times. The most recently plan, according to local officials, includes a physical barrier through land to the west of the state park, but not within either the state or national parks. Advocates and officials say that while they view this as progress, they will continue to fight against any physical wall in the region.

A bipartisan coalition

Word that a physical border wall was being considered in the Big Bend region quickly spread via word of mouth last month. Landowners in Presidio County began receiving packets from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), letting them know their land might need to be accessed to build a wall. Others were approached by contractors looking to house construction workers for the project. The local paper, The Big Bend Sentinel reported in early February that construction was imminent. Eagle-eyed local residents noticed a map on CBP's website showed a physical barrier planned for the border region, including through Big Bend Ranch and Big Bend National parks. Others observed a notice posted in the Federal Register, waiving 28 federal laws and regulations to allow for the construction of a physical barrier in the Big Bend Sector.

Dodson said he initially got most of his information after he made a traffic stop on a trio of construction workers.

"All of the men told us that they were down here surveying and getting rock samples and saying what they're going to have to do to get the wall going," Dodson said. "It's moving faster than we think it is."

Charlie Angell, a land and business owner who has lived in Presidio County for 11 years, said he is one of the landowners that received a packet from CBP. The notice offers Angell $2,500 to allow them to enter his property for construction purposes. 

Angell's land sits on the banks of the Rio Grande in Redford. It's where he lives and where he runs his recreation business from.

"I've never had anybody, legal or illegal, come up this way to try to threaten me or try to steal from me," Angell said. "If there was a crisis on the border right here, and I feared for my life, I would welcome a wall to protect me, like anyone would."

Brewster County Judge Greg Henington, a Republican, said in an interview with CBS News Texas he is not anti-border security. 

"The governor and federal administration have helped the sheriff out a great deal with grants and funding to help beef up our law enforcement presence [at the border]," Henington said in early March, before the planned wall was reduced to omit the state and national park. "Instead of a physical wall, I think we can use technology or the ingared motion sensors or whatever gadgets they have to do that. They've been doing it now, so it's not new. I don't know why we can't continue to pursue that route in border security versus putting a wall through one of our most spectacular national parks and state park and other wild lands."

Henington said a physical wall would be a waste of taxpayer dollars in the region. 

"There are probably places where a wall makes some sense," Our terrain is terrible. I mean, you've got to cross mountains, canyons, very, extremely rugged country with no water. I was a paramedic for 20 years in Terlingua, and so I made a number of calls to people that tried to come through here and didn't make it."

Border crossings across the board are down under President Donald Trump. From last October through February of this year, CBP data shows border patrol officers 34,486 migrants illegally crossing the southwestern border, down from 187,898 for that same period the year prior. Of those, 892 crossed through the Big Bend sector.

"Trump got in and he declared the border was closed," Dodson said. "It basically shut down."

Earlier this month, Sheriff Dodson was joined by the sheriffs of Hudspeth, Culberson, Presidio and Terrell counties, in writing a letter calling on the federal government to reconsider a physical barrier in the Big Bend region. 

The letter stated: "Steep mountain ranges, deep canyons, expansive desert landscapes, and the Rio Grande itself create formidable natural barriers."

The sheriffs also wrote: "We are also mindful of the unique character of the Big Bend region. This area includes nationally and internationally significant public lands, ranchlandsm tourism-based economies, and critical wildlife habitat."

In the weeks after the news broke, without direct communication from the federal government, concerned residents watched the CBP map for updates. During CBS News Texas' drive with Dodson, that's how he learned that the plan had been altered to reduce the physical wall proposal to the western portion of the Big Bend sector, only going through part of the state park. 

But even with that update, advocates said they were not ready to stop fighting. 

"Nothing has really changed. I feel like we have had a consistent state of confusion with lack of communication," said photographer Anna Claire Beasley. "I really think that until we understand really what is being proposed, and have that in writing, I can't say that this is a win."

Beasley is originally from the San Antonio area, but grew up visiting the Big Bend region and said she always knew she would eventually move there.  She has been part of anti-wall organizing efforts in the area — posting real-time updates on social media, advising others on how to get involved and starting an online petition that had more than 99,500 signatures as of Monday evening.

"This is a nonpartisan issue," Beasley said. "What really matters is that this place stays Texas heritage, that it stays the way it is that future generations can enjoy it the way that we do and that we have."

CBS News Texas reached out to CBP for comment Monday morning, but has not heard back yet. But in early March, CBP released a statement saying: 

"As CBP continues to work to implement President Trump's Executive Order 14165, "Securing our Borders" and Proclamation 10142, "Declaring a National Emergency at the Southern Border of the United States," it continues to develop and finalize its execution plan for border barrier construction funded by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act ... The Big Bend National Park and State Park are still in the planning stages. CBP will continue to coordinate with the National Park Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and other federal and state agencies, throughout the planning of border barrier and technology deployments, in order to achieve Border Patrol's operational priorities."    

Where things currently stand

On Monday afternoon, local elected leaders confirmed to CBS News Texas that over the weekend CBP regional leaders said a 5.6 mile wall through Big Bend Ranch State Park was no longer a part of the plan. Instead, the physical wall is now proposed to start to the west of the state park, with detection technology installed through the state and national parks

Advocates said that while they consider this latest development progress, they aren't ready to stop fighting against a wall in the region.

"A physical border wall upstream of the parks is still an extremely expensive and damaging option in this area and we plan to look for better options. It's a waste of taxpayer money on a virtually non-existent problem," Clara Bensen, a member of the community coalition No Big Bend Wall, wrote in a text message Monday afternoon.

In an emailed statement to CBS News Texas, Alpine Mayor Catherine Eaves said that along with concern about disrupting tourism and wildlife, she was concerned from a public safety and infrastructure standpoint. Her statement read, in part: "Our region has limited capicy in regard to medical resources particularly in the southern areas of the county where only one ambulance serves vast distances. The anticipated influx of up to 600 border wall workers would place additional strain on already limited services.  There is only one hospital in the area, located in Alpine, which is up to two hours drive from the river ... We respectfully urge federal authorities to maintain a technology based strategy for the entire Big Bend sector and to refrain from constructing physical barriers in this uniquely sensitive and economically vital region."

Advocates and officials noted that as of Monday night, the online CBP map still showed a physical barrier in Big Bend Ranch State Park.