Latest U.S. Customs And Border Protection Map Returns Border Wall To Big Bend

Editor's note: This updates with reaction from the National Parks Conservation Association.

New mapping from U.S. Customs and Border Protection indicates the agency has returned to planning for a physical border wall in parts of Big Bend National Park in Texas despite strong opposition from local communities.

The map, which appeared on CBP's website Tuesday, shows four sections of wall or vehicle barriers of some sort "planned" for inside the national park or next to it. What's unknown is how definitive the map is. In the past CBP has gone back and forth between proposing a physical bollard wall similar to that built in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona or using technology to deter cross-border traffic in Big Bend.

The map also shows an extensive "technology and patrol road" slicing through a wide swath of the national park.

"Yesterday afternoon the smartwall map changed several times for the national park in ways that significantly renew or escalate the threat, if the map actually reflects their new intent," Bob Krumenaker, a long-time National Park Service employee who retired in 2023 as Big Bend's superintendent, said Wednesday. "Or it could be somebody playing with the GIS not recognizing it was live. We take it seriously nonetheless, as we’re dealing with the Big Bend area’s future. 

"If this is real, their proposed impact on the national park now would extend far from the river," added Krumenaker, who now chairs Keep Big Bend Wild, a grassroots organization both fighting the wall and advocating for official wilderness designation in the national park.

"CBP provides no info about what a vehicle barrier and patrol road looks like — but with absolutely no vehicle traffic crossing the Rio Grande in either the national park or the [Rio Grande] wild and scenic river, there’s zero rationale for a vehicle barrier in these locations. Are they clutching at straws? Do they have any idea of the actual situation on the ground?" he said.

Thaddeus Cleveland, the sheriff in Terrell County that includes much of the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River downstream of the national park, said he was never consulted about the updated map.

"I don’t think CBP has a clue what they are doing," he said.  

At the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, Executive Director Emily Thompson said "[W]e continue to be incredibly concerned about the possibility of unnecessary and massive border walls, vehicle barriers, patrol roads, and lighting in Big Bend National Park — all being planned unilaterally by Customs and Border Protection with no apparent input from the NPS or local law enforcement officials on the ground. The recent changes to the map are confusing and impractical, and demonstrate the need to stay focused on the threat to this incredible park."

Cary Dupuy, the Texas regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association, said "[N]ational park advocates and members of impacted West Texas communities have received little to no notice about these changes, and there has been zero transparency on what impacts this new border wall plan will have on Big Bend National Park."

“These haphazard changes to border wall policy, seemingly made with little regard for one of America’s most beloved national parks and the communities that depend on it, reinforce what we have said all along about this process. The administration is rushing to build a border wall in Big Bend and the impacts could be devastating for the park’s priceless landscapes, unique wildlife, and recreation access for generations of park visitors to come," she added. "It’s time for the administration to stop moving the goalposts and begin an open, transparent dialogue with communities about their plans for border security infrastructure in Big Bend."

The federal government is facing a lawsuit that aims to block the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from building the border wall through the Big Bend region of Texas, arguing that the government unconstitutionally waived environmental regulations and laws to fast-track the construction.

CBP officials previously told the Traveler that, "This scope includes areas within Big Bend Ranch State Park and Big Bend National Park. Depending on terrain and operational requirements, each area may receive any combination of barrier installation, technology deployment, and road improvements."

There has been illegal migration through Big Bend. Between November 25 and December 1 in 2021 more than 200 undocumented migrants were taken into custody in the park, with more than 70 undocumented migrants from Venezuela apprehended on December 6 of that year alone. But Krumenaker says that was an unusual number.

"I'm not saying it doesn't happen. And I want to be clear that the Park Service, me personally, Keep Big Bend Wild, we're all in favor of border security," Krumenaker has said in the past.

Since 2023, the Border Patrol reports no more than 100-200 migrants being appended over the course of each year in the national park. This is less than 0.05 percent of all the migrant crossings recorded on the entire US-Mexican border. 

Krumenaker testified before Congress in 2025 on how cooperation between the Border Patrol and the National Park Service was working well at Big Bend. Sheriff Cleveland, at the same hearing, said he saw no need for a border wall in the Big Bend area.