BIG BEND — U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Monday awarded a $1.7 billion federal contract for border wall construction in the Big Bend region of far West Texas. According to listings on usaspending.gov, it is the largest amount awarded for a Texas contract related to the border wall, and it is intended for the Big Bend segment identified as BBT-4.

A second CBP contract, valued at $4.5 million, was awarded for resource monitoring support of border wall construction in another area of the Big Bend region. On Thursday, the Trump administration waived environmental protections in the Big Bend region in preparation for construction, according to a federal notice. The federal notice described the 517-mile Big Bend sector of Border Patrol as an area of high illegal entry. The sector accounted for 1.3% of more than 237,000 Border Patrol apprehensions across the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2025, making it the least busy of the nine sectors. Since 2023, monthly apprehensions in the Big Bend sector have been fewer than 200.

CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott told the Washington Examiner that no border wall would be built at Big Bend National Park because of pushback from local residents. The agency said it would pave roads and deploy digital surveillance equipment along the border in the national park instead of building a wall. CBP officials took down an interactive Smart Wall map in late April and restored it with changes in mid-May; the map currently states that no wall is planned around Big Bend National Park or Big Bend Ranch State Park despite the awarded contract.

In February, Trump administration officials waived over two dozen environmental laws to clear the way for a 150-mile border barrier through West Texas, including Big Bend National Park. In mid-April, advocacy groups filed a lawsuit against the administration arguing that the waivers were illegal and required congressional approval.

Residents heard rumors in January that a steel barrier was planned in the region. Property owners received letters warning that their land might be taken through eminent domain, survey crews appeared, and bulldozers were spotted along dusty roads. The Army Corps of Engineers arranged private meetings with residents.

Laiken Jordahl, National Public Lands Advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the agency had repeatedly altered its public materials. "They have made it a mission to obfuscate and make this as confusing of a process as possible. From constantly changing the online smart wall map — I mean, they've made dozens and dozens of changes to that thing without announcing any of them — to taking it down entirely." Jordahl said paved roads along the border would likely harm wildlife, could make crossings easier in difficult terrain, and could facilitate future barrier installation.

An archaeologist said the proposed wall may disturb historic evidence of "the edge of the Puebloan world."

River guide Billy Miller, who owns property in Redford near the potential path of the wall, said he found game cameras hidden in trees by Border Patrol on his property without coordination. A CBP spokesperson responded: "When installing technology such as cameras on private property, the Border Patrol coordinates directly with the landowner. That was done in this case."

Miller said he was concerned that razor wire could come loose and travel downstream and that a steel wall would make the river more dangerous for boaters during flash floods. "We're all going to leave. We don't want to do wall tours," he said. Miller also said, "The river is just hanging on by a thread, anyway—the dams, the unregulated overconsumption, the introduction of invasive species."