All Texas Border County Judges Asked For More Transparency on Big Bend Border Wall Plans—Two Days Later CBP Deletes Its "Smart Wall Map"
“This place isn’t just where I work, it’s where I’ve built my life and raised my kid. We call the Rio Grande our cathedral. I’ve spent more than two decades guiding on the river, and if a border wall cuts off access, that’s the end of my career. No one comes to Big Bend to see steel walls and razor wire. If they build this, they’re not just destroying a landscape, they’re wiping out our way of life.” - Billy Miller, a professional river guide and landowner in Redford, Texas
On Tuesday, April 21, 2026, fourteen judges representing all border counties in Texas sent a letter to the new Director of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Markwayne Mullin, in which they asked for “consistent communication” and “early coordination” on the proposed Big Bend border barrier.
They urgently requested more transparency.
This outspoken, crystal-clear message from the judges expanded the ever-growing, bipartisan coalition of opponents to a border wall in Big Bend even more.
It mirrors a joint statement from five Big Bend county sheriffs released on March 9, who also spoke out strongly against a physical barrier along the Rio Grande, and asked federal and state legislators for transparency and to “consult directly” with local stakeholders.
It adds to another letter, sent on March 12, by 100 groups asking Congress to reject funding for a Big Bend border wall.
It shows how overwhelmingly unpopular this is among anyone with ties to the Big Bend area, which was abundantly clear during an April 4 rally at the Texas State Capitol in Austin. It follows a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Ruidosa Church, and a Big Bend-area land owner and river guide, filed on April 16.
Together, the county judges—who are the highest elected officials and serve as the heads of emergency management in their counties—represent 100% of the nearly 1,300-mile Texas-Mexico border.
You can read their full letter here:
Their request for more collaboration and transparency comes after months of ongoing confusion about what the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP), which is part of the DHS, plans for the border barrier in Big Bend actually are.
While construction crews and contractors are actively scoping out the area near, around, and even in Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park, looking for locations for so-called man camps, locals are left with all kinds of questions and no answers.
The federal government continues to keep them in the dark on whether there will be an actual physical wall or potentially less-intrusive surveillance technology. No one knows if there’s going to be any eminent domain invoked, or if they’ll still have access to the live-sustaining water of the Rio Grande in the future at all.
A quick recap of the erratic and inconsistent behavior of Customs and Border Protection:
On March 2, CBP’s “Smart Wall Map” still showed plans for a physical steel bollard wall along the American side of the Rio Grande and through most of Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park.
On March 5, CBP updated its map from a “planned” border wall to “detection technology” in the national park, while keeping the wall in the state park, which triggered a whole lot of skepticism and scrutiny from locals.
On April 21—the very same day the fourteen county judges sent their letter—CBP updated its map again, now indicating a “vehicle barrier system” at four different locations in Big Bend National Park, and along all of the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River and through Amistad National Recreation Area.
This flip-flopping on CBP’s online border wall map, combined with a complete lack of concrete information and very limited communication on the ground, is exactly why the judges sent their letter.
And now—literally just two days after the border county judges’ letter for more transparency was sent—on April 23, 2026, Customs and Border Protection deleted their “Smart Wall Map” from their website entirely.
When the public asks for more information about government actions and activities that affect their lives and livelihoods, the Trump administration’s agencies go quiet.
This has also been clearly visible, for example, in the sheer reduction of official communication coming from the National Park Service—except for generic email responses and template answers.
Once again, though, the actual reason why this map has been deleted is unclear. Are they trying to avoid public scrutiny, which this map has generated for months? Do they simply not have any employees who have proper knowledge of the map’s technology? Are they actively trying to hide their plans? Do they have any clue what they’re doing at all?
No one knows. But that secrecy is the intent is now certain.
What’s the point of having a “Smart Wall Map” page on your website, if it doesn’t actually show any maps?
The 517-mile Big Bend Sector makes up about 25% of the entire U.S.-Mexico border, yet it is responsible for only approximately 1.6% of all recent apprehensions along that border.
To illustrate this: so far in Fiscal Year 2026, from October through March, there have been 63,732 so-called “southwest land border encounters” along the entire southern border, according to CBP’s own data.
In the same period, in the entire Big Bend Sector—which, again, is a quarter of the southern border—the grand total was 1,019. One point six percent.
A border wall along the Rio Grande wouldn’t change that. If people are desperate enough to wander through the northern Mexican and southern Texan deserts for days or even weeks, they certainly won’t be stopped by a basic wall.
If you’re planning on traversing the canyons, washes, slopes, and ridges of the Chihuahuan desert, you’re probably willing to climb a wall with a ladder and rappel down with a rope.
And the locals agree.
“For years, I have said that a physical wall is a 20th-century solution to a 21st-century challenge. It is one of the most expensive and least effective ways to secure the border, and it does not reflect the priorities of our border communities,” said Democratic Texas State Senator Cesar Blanco on Instagram in late March. “We can achieve real border security through smart technology, well-trained personnel, and strong coordination, without wasting taxpayer dollars or bypassing the environmental safeguards that help preserve the landscapes that define our region.”
“It’ll ruin this county. If it’s a real wall, it will devastate us. We don’t have oil and gas, we have tourism,” Ronny Dodson, Brewster County Sheriff and a Democrat in an overwhelmingly Republican county, told NBC News. “Since Trump closed the border, we’re down I would say 90%. I think we’ve caught one smuggler in the last three months.”
And it’s not just Democrats that oppose this—at all. Just like public opposition to the Boundary Waters copper mine, this is as bipartisan as it gets.
“This county judge sees no reason to go with a border wall in Brewster County,” said Greg Henington, Brewster County Judge, a Republican, and river outfitter, at the “Water in the Desert 2026” conference on February 12. “I get border security, but there are other ways to do it.”
Republican Hudspeth County Judge Joanna Mackenzie agreed, stating that the border wall plan is a “band-aid to make people feel better who don’t live here.”
“We’ve got a God-made barrier,” said Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland, a Republican, NBC News reported. “I’m a strong supporter of a wall where it’s needed, but in some of these places, there are things the government could do that would save money. It’s something I never thought we would see.”
Importantly, a physical wall that’s intended to stop humans would also cut off the travel routes of black bears, mountain lions, jaguars, deer, and javelinas. It would eliminate visitor access to the Rio Grande. It would impact scenic views. It would destroy both parks’ wilderness character.
A riverside barrier and its associated patrol roads would severely impact bird habitat in the park, too. Big Bend National Park is home to 409 bird species, the second-highest bird diversity of all 63 national parks—as I analyzed in this deep dive into the “biodiversity of America’s national parks” last year.
In terms of total biodiversity—total number of species of fauna and flora—Big Bend ranks 6th, well above, for example, Everglades and Yellowstone.
In 2024, according to the National Park Service’s (NPS) National Park Visitor Spending Effects report, Big Bend National Park was visited by 561,000 people, who spent $56.8 million in local gateway communities. Park visitation supported 585 local jobs and provided a total of $17.3 million in labor income.
These numbers are massive for an area this remote, where the nearest somewhat sizable town—Alpine—is home to just over 6,000 residents.
“People come to Big Bend National Park to enjoy the Chihuahuan desert, Chisos Mountains, and Rio Grande and end up supporting the US and local economies along the way,” Superintendent Rick Gupman said after the NPS report came out last September. “We’re proud that Big Bend National Park generates many millions of dollars in revenue to communities near the park.”
Many locals rely heavily on access to the Rio Grande, from ranchers and anglers to river outfitters. And as Public Domain reported just today, a physical barrier would also heavily “degrade some of the few public hunting opportunities in Texas” in the adjacent Black Gap Wildlife Management Area.
Now, however, that Rio Grande access and Chihuahuan desert enjoyment praised by Superintendent Gupman as an economy-boosting factor is in grave danger.
How big is that danger? We can’t possibly know. While the CBP’s “Smart Wall Map” gave at least some insight into what the plans or ideas might be—as unreliable as that may have been—not having that map provides even less transparency.
The reason why preventing a border wall from being built in Big Bend is such a priority of mine is the simple fact that this would be permanent. Once constructed, no future politician in our lifetime is going to tear down a border wall.
This would have very serious and long-lasting consequences. Other current public lands issues like the proposed—but far from certain—administrative restructuring of the Forest Service pale in comparison to the damage a 30-foot steel bollard wall would inflict on the Big Bend national and state parks, the Rio Grande, and local businesses.
If it was “just” sections of border barriers scattered through the parks, the construction traffic, noise, lights, hundreds of workers, and guaranteed pollution would destroy their integrity and the park experience completely. It would be a disaster.
This would be the same level of bad as a copper-sulfide mine in the headwaters of the Boundary Waters, a battle we just lost (although the war isn’t over). This would be the same caliber of bad as the Hetch Hetchy Dam in Yosemite National Park.
And although this is by no means the only urgent public lands fight with long-term consequences—the attempted use of the CRA to undo the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument management plan is another major issue—this does require our continued focus, attention, and effort. This is a big one.
“This place isn’t just where I work, it’s where I’ve built my life and raised my kid. We call the Rio Grande our cathedral,” said Billy Miller, a professional river guide and landowner in Redford, Texas. “I’ve spent more than two decades guiding on the river, and if a border wall cuts off access, that’s the end of my career. No one comes to Big Bend to see steel walls and razor wire. If they build this, they’re not just destroying a landscape, they’re wiping out our way of life.”
What Can You Do?
With all this flip-flopping going on and maps disappearing entirely from government websites, it’s impossible to predict if they’ll “flip” back to actual border wall plans through the national park and the state park.
It’s crucial to remain vigilant, informed, and continue to push back.
If you care about these parks and the greater Big Bend area, please keep the pressure on. Keep supporting the local organizations who are pushing back against this ridiculously unnecessary and extremely unpopular wall:
Follow them on social media and share their posts. Check out their advocacy resources. Support them with a donation if you can.
If you live in Texas yourself, contact your Senators and Representative. That includes both national and state politicians, even Governor Greg Abbott himself:
You can also use this super-easy 5calls.org script.
Another meaningful way to push back against the Big Bend border wall, regardless of whether you live in Texas or elsewhere in the country, is adding your signature to this rapidly growing petition, which, at the time of writing, has amassed over 125,000 signatures.
Lastly, help spread the word. Share this article. Tell your friends, family, and neighbors about it. Post about the Big Bend border wall threat on social media.
Thanks for speaking up for our public lands and waters!
See you out there,
Bram
Image 1: NPS / Ann Wildermuth
Image 2: Screenshot from CBP website
Great article. I live in South Texas, and the attempt to wall off Big Bend is not only preposterous, it is grotesque. Talk about a natural barrier!! As I read this the local news is reporting that the wall is going up right now in the Rio Grande City area in Starr County, passing through parts of at least one National Wildlife Refuge. But of course, all the pesky environmental regulations have been set aside by Homeland Security in their quest to not only wall us in, but destroy the environment.
Note: Starr County is several counties to the south and east of Big Bend, but the entire border (as you so well-described) is up for grabs. I live in the state's southernmost county, Cameron, on South Padre Island. Here in the Rio Grande Valley, up to 500 species of birds (including year-round residents) have been seen as they pass through along the Central and Mississippi flyways. Thank You So Much guys!! This is happening under our noses and they won't stop until they're fully exposed (and outlawed!!)