Big Bend border security: $1.7 billion awarded despite 'no wall' in CBP plans
Texas, Big Bend National Park, Santa Elena Canyon, Rio Grande River. (Photo By: Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
TERILINGUA, Texas - Despite "no wall" being planned for Big Bend National Park at Texas' southern border, a $1.7 billion contract has been awarded for ongoing U.S. Customs and Border immigration-deterring construction.
At the time of publishing, the CBP Smart Wall Map showed only patrol roads and surveillance technology were planned for the region.
$1.7B Big Bend contract
The latest:
The money was awarded to Southwest Valley Constructors, with a listed start date of May 11, 2026, and a potential end date of Dec. 7, 2028.
The contractor is listed online as an Albuquerque-based company specializing in large-scale construction for the federal government. According to USASpending.org, the contractor has been awarded 12 projects by the government, totaling $2 billion since 2019.
The interactive map shows a large section of the park, displayed below in yellow, which is labeled "Big Bend 4 Technology & Patrol Road (No Wall). The contract was awarded for the "segment identified as BBT-4" in the USASpending listing.
Big Bend border concerns
Big picture view:
At the moment, at least, the national park appears to be safe from an actual wall on its border, along which runs the Rio Grande. According to the Texas Tribune, CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott was recently quoted as promising there would be no wall within the park's boundaries due to local pushback.
Residents did indeed push back once the wall was teased in recent months — along with hundreds of environmentalists, activists and lawmakers. Their concerns appeared to be only partially regarding the potential eyesore of a 30-foot wall, and much more focused on the impact of construction on plant and animal life in the park.
What we don't know:
FOX 4 has reached out to CPB to ask why $1.7 billion is necessary to build a road and add surveillance tech, but had not heard back by the time of publishing.
Conservationists among 100+ to sign letter asking Congress to ban Big Bend border wall
About 130 conservation groups, outfitters and rural Texas businesses sent a letter to Congress Thursday asking them to step in to halt efforts to build a border wall in the state's Big Bend parks.
DHS waives environmental protection laws
Dig deeper:
An "awarded" portion of wall plans extending into the state park matches the GPS coordinates indicated in a determination by Kristi Noem on Feb. 17, which she said was found to have "an acute and immediate need to construct additional physical barriers and roads."
In that same document, Noem waived 28 environmental and cultural resource protection laws to fast-track construction in the Big Bend region, including that section of Texas state park. Some of these statutes are named things like "The National Environmental Policy Act," "the Endangered Species Act," and "the Federal Water Pollution Control Act."
What they're saying:
"Congress needs to step in and stop this massively destructive, universally despised trainwreck before it scars the Big Bend region forever," said Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. "We won't let Washington bureaucrats wall off the Rio Grande, block animals from their drinking water and pave over our beloved campsites, swimming holes and trailheads. Big Bend is worth fighting for and we’re just getting started."
The Source: Information in this article comes from the CBP, public spending records and previous FOX Local reporting.