Trump Administration Waives Laws for 100-Mile Big Bend Border Project as Wall Fight Intensifies
Updated
Updated · The Associated Press · Jun 10
Trump Administration Waives Laws for 100-Mile Big Bend Border Project as Wall Fight Intensifies
3 articles · Updated · The Associated Press · Jun 10
Summary
A revised federal waiver lets the Trump administration bypass environmental and other laws across more than 100 miles of the Big Bend border, including all of Big Bend National Park and parts of Big Bend Ranch State Park.
Homeland Security said the step is meant to speed construction of barriers and roads; CBP said the waiver applies to its Big Bend 4 plan for vehicle barriers, surveillance technology and patrol-road upgrades.
CBP said a 30-foot steel wall is not planned inside the parks and that work there remains in planning, but the waiver still permits fencing, roads, lighting, cameras and sensors.
Former park superintendents and environmental groups condemned the move after urging against it, warning of new road building along the Rio Grande and vowing to challenge the waiver.
The filing revises a May waiver with corrected GPS coordinates and comes as CBP prepares steel-wall construction in other parts of the wider Big Bend region within weeks.