One of President Donald Trump’s key issues in his 2024 campaign was sealing U.S. borders after four years of Joe Biden allowing mass immigration into the country.
To do that, Trump vowed to enforce all immigration laws vigorously, but in addition to that, he also pledged to restart construction of the border wall he began building during his first term.
As such, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is preparing to begin installing new border wall panels in Texas’ Big Bend region as early as August, according to published reports on Tuesday.
The planned construction includes sections of the U.S.-Mexico border near Big Bend Ranch State Park, according to federal officials who spoke to The Center Square.
“We’ve been ordered to do it by [President Donald Trump’s] executive order, as well as the funding and appropriations under the One Big Beautiful Bill. The priority is to do the entire border,” John Mennell, spokesperson for CBP, told the outlet.
CPB noted further that border wall projects remain in the planning stages.
“While there are priorities for new border wall and detection technology in USBP’s Big Bend Sector, the combination of barriers, roads and technology (cameras, infrared illuminators, and other detection technology) in the areas adjacent to the Big Bend National Park and State Park are still in the planning stages,” Hilton Beckham, CBP spokesperson, told The Center Square.
“CBP continues to coordinate with the National Park Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and other federal and state agencies, throughout the planning of border barrier and technology deployments, in order to achieve Border Patrol’s operational priorities,” he added in an email to the news agency.
The Big Bend project is divided into five segments and includes construction of new border wall panels, expanded patrol roads, surveillance technology, and additional vehicle barriers.
According to data from usaspending.gov, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has allocated approximately $7.5 billion for border security projects in the Big Bend region, The Center Square reported.
“CBP is utilizing the $46.5 billion from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to construct a Smart Wall, which includes a steel bollard wall, along with roads, detection technology, cameras, lighting and, in some cases, a waterborne barrier or a secondary wall – creating a double-layer barrier,” Mennell told the outlet.
“The Smart Wall provides Border Patrol with both the impedance and denial, domain awareness and the access and mobility required to secure the border,” he continued.
The Big Bend project includes five separate construction segments spanning multiple counties along the Texas-Mexico border, said the report.
Big Bend 1 will consist of 47.4 miles of primary border wall in Hudspeth County, with wall panel installation expected to begin in September, according to project officials who spoke to The Center Square.
Big Bend 2 and Big Bend 3 are located in Presidio County. Big Bend 3 includes 56.3 miles of primary border wall, with construction scheduled to begin in August, the outlet said.
Big Bend 2 will add another 68.2 miles of primary border wall, with construction expected to begin in September. Combined, the three projects will create approximately 171.9 miles of new primary border wall.
Big Bend 4, which runs alongside much of Big Bend National Park, will not include a primary border wall.
Instead, the project will add patrol roads, surveillance technology and approximately 17 miles of vehicle barriers, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Smart Wall Map, noted the news agency
Additional portions of Big Bend 4 and the 156.6-mile Big Bend 5 segment will also feature vehicle barriers rather than a primary wall system.
Together, those segments will total roughly 173.6 miles and span the Alpine, Sanderson and Comstock areas of responsibility, The Center Square noted further.
As part of the Big Bend 2 project, portions of the border wall will connect to Big Bend Ranch State Park at two locations.
According to project officials, those sections will be built near the Rio Grande along the base of the park in areas that are not considered heavily used recreational sites, said the outlet.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
