Stop Trump’s Big Bend Border Wall Now

A $1.7 billion border infrastructure project tied to border wall construction is threatening to bulldoze through the wild Big Bend region — destroying fragile habitat, cutting off wildlife migration routes, and militarizing one of the most breathtaking landscapes in North America.

And it won’t stop human migration.

People fleeing violence, poverty, and climate disasters have always found ways around walls. What this project will do is trap wildlife in fragmented habitat and push vulnerable species closer to decline.

Big Bend National Park and the surrounding borderlands are home to black bears, mountain lions, bighorn sheep, foxes, owls, and hundreds of migratory bird species. These animals rely on open landscapes and access to the Rio Grande to survive. A massive wall would sever ancient migration corridors, isolate populations, and block access to water in one of the harshest desert environments in the country.

Wildlife does not recognize political borders. Animals move freely across this landscape because survival depends on it. A border wall could turn that movement into a deadly barrier for wildlife.

And now the Trump administration is trying to fast-track this destruction even further. Last week, federal officials waived environmental protections in the Big Bend region to clear the way for construction — silencing oversight and sidelining the very laws meant to protect wildlife, public lands, and clean water. When the government has to sweep environmental safeguards aside to build a project, that is a warning sign to all of us.

The wall would also bulldoze sensitive desert ecosystems, damage cultural and sacred sites, worsen flooding and erosion, and permanently scar public lands that belong to everyone. Scientists, Tribal voices, conservationists, and local communities have repeatedly warned about the devastating consequences of border wall construction in this fragile landscape.

The Department of Homeland Security must immediately halt plans for this destructive border infrastructure project. And the Department of the Interior must fully enforce environmental review requirements, wildlife protection laws, and public land safeguards before any construction moves forward.

We can support humane immigration policies and safe communities without sacrificing wildlife and irreplaceable ecosystems for a cruel, wasteful political stunt.

Big Bend is one of the last truly wild places left in America. Once these habitats are fragmented and these migration corridors are destroyed, the damage cannot simply be reversed.

Please sign the petition to tell Trump’s Department of Homeland Security and Department of the Interior to stop this reckless destruction now.

The petition to the Department of Homeland Security and Department of the Interior reads: Cancel the Big Bend border infrastructure project immediately and protect the wildlife, ecosystems, and public lands of the border region. The Department of the Interior must fully enforce environmental review and wildlife protection laws before any construction proceeds. We reject the false choice between compassion, conservation, and real solutions.
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Source:

https://westernpriorities.org/2026/05/border-wall-through-big-bend-gets-1-7-billion-contract/