The Problem

The Current Federal Approach Is Wrong for the Big Bend

Washington has committed billions of dollars for border security infrastructure in the most remote and least-crossed part of the southern border—threatening the Big Bend’s extraordinary landscape, cultural heritage, and private property rights.

Panorama looking south across the Rio Grande into Mexico — Looking south into Mexico from Chispa Road along the Rio Grande, west of Presidio near Candelaria.

The Big Bend is already a barrier

The Rio Grande in the Big Bend runs through deep canyons, past sheer cliffs, and through hundreds of miles of desert with few roads and fewer towns. The terrain on the Mexican side is equally mountainous and impassable. Crossing on foot means a long, dangerous trek through some of the hardest country in Texas. Crossing it in a vehicle is often impossible.

It is no wonder that few illegal crossings occur here. In 2025, the Big Bend sector accounted for only 1.3% of total apprehensions although it spans more than a quarter of the southern border.

Click a photo to enlarge.

517 milesof border in the Big Bend Sector, roughly a quarter of the entire Southwest border.

Under 1.5%of Southwest border apprehensions over the past five years. About 1.3% in FY2025.

$7 billion+already awarded for barrier projects in the Big Bend Sector.

Glenn Merkford checks a map of the planned wall route on his phone — Glenn Merkford maps where the planned wall would cut residents off from their own land and access to the Rio Grande.

Federal “One Size Fits All” Approach Does Not Fit the Big Bend

The federal plan would impose extensive new border infrastructure on the Big Bend, including 30-foot bollard walls, vehicle barriers, surveillance towers, roads, lighting, and staging areas.

The plans were developed without meaningful input from counties, sheriffs, and landowners who know this ground. To accelerate construction, the Department of Homeland Security waived dozens of environmental, public health, and historic preservation laws.

Federal Approach Will Cause Permanent Damage

Once this fragile landscape is bulldozed, graded, or cut, the damage is permanent.

Archaeology and heritage

The region holds thousands of prehistoric archaeological sites, plus historic multi-generation ranches and river communities. The laws that normally protect them have been waived.

Wildlife and habitat

Border walls and barriers fragment ecosystems and can prevent animals from reaching the river. Animal migrations could be interrupted. Habitat would be destroyed. Success stories like the return of the black bear will be a thing of the past.

Floods and the river

Walls across a floodplain catch debris and act like dams. The Rio Grande’s floods here are sudden and powerful. Currently planned border barriers may make future floods catastrophic.

Parks and public lands

In 2026, bulldozers ripped through parts of Big Bend National Park. Iconic areas along Santa Elena Canyon and Mariscal Mountain were bulldozed for border barrier construction. Parts of Big Bend Ranch State Park and the Wild and Scenic Rio Grande are also slated for construction.

Dark skies

The Greater Big Bend International Dark Sky Reserve is the largest in the world. Lit walls, roads, stations, and staging areas would threaten the region’s famous night-sky tourism and Dark Sky certification.

Livelihoods and communities

Ranching families, farmers in La Junta de los Rios, outfitters, and the towns that depend on tourism all rely on open access to the land and the river.

Federal Approach Violates Private Property Rights, States’ Rights, and Fiscal Responsibility

You don’t have to be a conservationist to oppose this wall. Many of its strongest critics are ranchers and landowners who simply want the federal government to respect their land and their state.

Private property under threat

Landowners in the Big Bend have begun receiving letters from DHS threatening eminent domain using language that is often misleading and coercive. Families who have held this land for generations face losing it, or losing access to their own river frontage.

Washington overriding Texas

Decisions about Texas land are being made in D.C., with waived laws and little regard for the needs or advice of local officials and residents. And it shows — walls where no walls are needed, vehicle barriers where no vehicles can cross, roads and construction over and through archaeological sites, etc. Texans should have a voice in the Big Bend’s future.

Billions wasted

More than $7 billion in no-bid contracts have been awarded for constructing roads and barriers in the least trafficked sector. This money would be better spent on more effective, low-impact measures that will not cause irreversible damage to the region.

Texas land left behind the wall

Walls set back from the river would leave hundreds of thousands of acres and the Rio Grande itself on the far side, effectively ceding Texas land and water to Mexico.