Big Bend border wall opponents campaign for project to end for good

TEXAS - Landowners and activists near Big Bend National Park in West Texas continue to call for a complete stoppage of a border wall project.

Big Bend border wall gains national attention

The backstory:

The project gained attention after images and video posted on social media showed heavy equipment being used to carve through parts of the picturesque landscape of the park. That prompted tribal and environmental groups to file lawsuits to stop construction.

A stoppage of work was agreed upon until at least Sept. 15. On Monday, lawmakers confirmed some of the construction projects were on hold until Sept. 30.

Customs & Border Patrol has maintained that the work does not involve construction of a 30-foot border wall. Officials previously said the project includes a new access road, improvements to existing roads, detection technology and vehicle barriers in limited locations.

Texas State Sen. Rolando Gutierrez said it was clear that the attorneys representing the government at a recent hearing had no idea what CBP actually had planned for the park.

What they're saying:

"What we have right now is a pause in destruction, not transparency."

Activists and landowners near Big Bend continue to campaign against the project, calling for a complete stop in construction.

"We are not asking for a pause or a smaller wall. We demand that the federal government stop using false information to justify an egregious attack on Texas sovereignty and states' rights," Hillary Pierce, treasurer of the nonprofit group Conserve Big Bend, said.

"Where is the emergency? Why the no bid contracts? Why the rush in sweeping waivers?" she continued. "If the premise of this project is not grounded in reality or CBP's own data, the so-called solution is baseless and unnecessary."

John Ferguson, the mayor of Presidio, says the park's rugged nature already serves as a natural barrier to illegal immigration.

"A planned border in the Big Bend region of Texas is a fix to an immigration problem that doesn't exist here," Ferguson said. "Stretching for 517 miles along the Rio Grande, the Big Bend sector of the U.S.-Mexico border patrol contains 25 percent of the entire U.S.-Mexico international border, yet accounts for only 1 percent of illegal border crossings."

The other side:

Federal officials maintain that the work on Big Bend is necessary to strengthen border security.

TexasPolitics