Overview
- DHS issued a Feb. 17 waiver of 28 environmental and preservation laws to speed construction of physical barriers and roads in the Big Bend region.
- CBP says the entire 517-mile Big Bend Sector will get new infrastructure, with public plans identifying more than 100 miles of barrier within national and state park lands.
- The Federal Register notice defines a 175-mile project area along the Rio Grande that includes popular vistas, trails and river routes in Big Bend Ranch State Park.
- CBP states contracts are expected in the coming weeks and months, with construction targeted for late 2026 pending land acquisition.
- Landowners report receiving eminent-domain notices and contractors are scouting sites for worker camps, as bipartisan local opposition pushes for nonstructural alternatives given comparatively low migrant encounters in the sector.