There's been a possible change in plans for a border wall through Big Bend National Park, one that could negate the need for an imposing physical structure.
According to former Big Bend Superintendent Bob Krumenaker, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) website now indicates that a "detection" system will be utilized through the park.
"Yesterday, CBP quietly, with no public announcement, made a change to their online map indicating that there is no longer a physical wall planned for Big Bend National Park and Rio Grande Wild & Scenic River immediately downstream," Krumenaker said Friday morning. "If this is a true reflection of their intent, Keep Big Bend Wild (a nonprofit that advocates for wilderness in the park) and the many allied groups and citizens of Texas and the rest of the country that have been actively opposing this, would be delighted.
"The map still shows a wall in much of Big Bend Ranch State Park, which is just as destructive a proposal as in the national park. We remain concerned and vigilant and would like to see a clear public announcement from CBP of their intent and a commitment that it won’t change again, before we will assume this is over," Krumenaker added. "We support a secure border, but a wall through the Big Bend would be unnecessary and highly destructive, as the number of people who cross have long been extremely low."
Krumenaker, who retired in 2023, told the Traveler in this week's podcast that a physical wall wasn't needed.
"What's not well-known is there's already considerable detection technology within the national park," he said. "It's probably not the latest technology, but there's a network of cameras."
"The existing systems have worked really well," he added. "In fact, Big Bend National Park is the quietest section of the entire US-Mexico border, and it has nothing to do with the fact that it's a national park. It has to do with the fact that it is the most isolated and most difficult terrain to reach in Mexico."
The proposal by CBP earlier this year to build a bollard wall similar to that in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona outraged local officials in Texas and raised questions of what impacts such a project might have on the sprawling park in West Texas.
"I’ve spent my entire life on the border and served 26 years as a Border Patrol agent. I know firsthand the challenges of securing our border, and I absolutely believe in the need for strong protection," Thaddeus Cleveland, the sheriff in Terrell County, just east of the park, said in an email to Keep Big Bend Wild, which shared it with the Traveler. "The Big Bend region is fundamentally different from heavily trafficked border areas. Its mountains, canyons, desert expanses, and the Rio Grande already create a formidable natural barrier.
"Historically, the region has not experienced the high-volume crossings seen in urban corridors, making large-scale physical infrastructure both impractical and inefficient," added Cleveland. "Modern surveillance technology offers a smarter alternative. Advanced aerial systems, such as long-endurance drones, can monitor vast, rugged terrain, detect movement in real time, and direct agents precisely where they’re needed."
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