Border Construction in Big Bend Is Halted After Drawing Criticism
New York Times · LC · trust 52/100
The Trump administration has been carving a path through some of the beloved national park’s major natural attractions.
Listen · 3:23 min Share full article Contractors working in Big Bend National Park in Texas earlier this month. Credit... Brandon Bell/Getty Image By J. David Goodman
Contractors had been building a new patrol road and vehicle barriers along the border with Mexico, carving a path with bulldozers and excavators through some of the beloved park’s major natural attractions.
On Monday, opponents of the construction, who have been monitoring its progress, said the pause appeared to already be in effect.
“They’re not working. We didn’t see any contractor traffic at all,” said Jenna Cantrell, who lives in nearby Terlingua, Texas. She was in the park on Monday near Mariscal Mountain, a remote peak along the Rio Grande where construction work was taking place last weekend.
“Every day the bulldozers aren’t working is a nice day,” she said, but added, “We’re not going to rest until there’s no more contract.”
The work had drawn national attention and bipartisan criticism. Local law enforcement officials have said that the border infrastructure is costly and unnecessary in a desolate and undeveloped area where few migrants have ever crossed, even during times of peak migration.
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