In the Big Bend area of West Texas, contractors are beginning to set the stage to build the Trump administration’s planned border wall and barriers, despite bipartisan opposition.
Transcript
EMILY FENG, HOST:
At Big Bend National Park, federal contractors have been bulldozing through desert shrub and wildlife habitat. It’s part of the Trump administration’s plan for border security infrastructure in far west Texas. Land owners, outdoor enthusiasts and people across the political spectrum all say this will permanently harm the rugged and wild land known as Texas’ gift to the nation. Carlos Morales reports.
CARLOS MORALES, BYLINE: At the foot of Santa Elena Canyon, perhaps the most iconic and photographed stretch of Big Bend National Park, Joan Stutts Escamilla sits in silence by the edge of the Rio Grande. She looks up at the canyon’s 1,500-foot-tall limestone cliffs.
JOAN STUTTS ESCAMILLA: It’s such a God-given gift.
MORALES: From where the 70-year-old sits, the river slows to a gentle trickle.
ESCAMILLA: There’s just nothing – there’s nothing else like this.
MORALES: Escamilla says she never thought she’d see the day the U.S. government would come barreling through Big Bend for border security. But within the last week, federal contractors have moved heavy machinery into the national park, and they’ve cleared ecologically sensitive land. Now bright pink ribbons mark the construction path. The Trump administration has awarded $1.7 billion for the work, and a federal judge has allowed the government to waive federal laws like the Endangered Species Act.
LAIKEN JORDAHL: If we lose places like Big Bend, we never get them back.
MORALES: Laiken Jordahl is with the Center for Biological Diversity. The group is part of a lawsuit against the federal government.
JORDAHL: The destruction that will be inflicted here will truly be irreparable.
MORALES: The Trump administration’s initial plans for Big Bend National Park included 30-foot-tall walls. Instead, contractors will now build patrol roads, vehicle barriers and surveillance systems. In a statement to NPR, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said the work is intended to help Border Patrol detect illegal crossings, respond faster and assist visitors in danger. Commissioner Scott said that what people are seeing is survey and design work and not construction. The purpose, he said, is to secure the park and protect its legacy. Bernadette Devine, a local educator and former river guide, is calling on the state’s top politicians to stop the construction.
BERNADETTE DEVINE: We already have effective border security here.
MORALES: Republican Senator John Cornyn has asked federal officials to meet with locals before moving forward with any additional work here, and Governor Greg Abbott’s office has repeatedly said the region offers great opportunities for technology in securing the border.
BILLY MILLER: Check, check. One, two. How’s everybody doing?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yeah.
MORALES: At Santa Elena Canyon, local river guide Billy Miller speaks into a megaphone, his voice slightly bouncing off the canyon walls.
MILLER: The river’s being threatened as we speak.
MORALES: Miller’s here with nearly 150 others to rally against the government’s plans. Some are waving Texas flags, others holding signs that read, don’t bulldoze my church and don’t tread on Big Bend.
MILLER: And a lot of people might think, well, we saved it from the 30-foot wall, we won the battle. The battle is just now beginning.
MORALES: Outside of the sprawling national park, border security efforts include securing private land in rural border counties in west Texas to make way for up to 175 miles of steel fences.
For NPR News, I’m Carlos Morales.
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