The Trump administration has temporarily halted construction of a border wall project in Big Bend National Park, Texas, for an on-the-ground evaluation of the terrain.
Rodney Scott, head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, announced the pause on X, saying the agency has backed off plans for a 30-foot bollard wall at the site but still intends to build a road, lighting, barriers, and fiber optic cables. Senator John Cornyn wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin raising concerns, citing the area's 1,000-foot riverbank cliffs and remote terrain as natural deterrents to illegal crossings.
Congress allocated $46 billion last summer for wall construction spanning from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Scott expects the first layer of the wall to be completed by the end of next year.