Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Rodney Scott plans to visit Texas’ Big Bend region next week as frustrations rise regarding the Trump administration’s border security project plans for Big Bend National Park.
Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland, a retired Border Patrol agent who worked alongside Scott in CBP’s anti-terrorism division, told NOTUS on Friday that Scott’s team had reached out regarding the commissioner’s tentative trip to the region next week.
Brewster County Sheriff Ronny Dodson confirmed to NOTUS that Scott’s team had reached out to coordinate meetings with county judges and sheriffs for next week.
CBP did not respond to a request for comment. NOTUS reviewed planning correspondence related to the trip, and is the first to report the upcoming plans.
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For months, the administration has gone back and forth over plans for the park, which sits along the U.S.-Mexico border. Construction plans including the beloved national park and its surrounding area have been among the most controversial parts of President Donald Trump’s border wall project.
The administration says it isn’t building a physical wall in the park — a commitment Scott reemphasized Thursday in a statement, writing that CBP is “NOT building a 30-foot wall or stadium lighting” through national or state parks in the area. But earlier this summer, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin waived over a dozen federal environmental and historical regulations, reigniting concerns over the agency’s plans in the park. And last week, government contractors began bulldozing in the national park for a patrol road.
But advocates worry that even with no plans for a physical border wall, construction efforts could damage the surrounding environment, particularly near Mariscal Mountain, which looks out over the Rio Grande.
This week, outgoing Texas Sen. John Cornyn asked Mullin to consult with local officials before proceeding with construction, becoming the highest-ranking Republican official to raise concerns about the project.
Dodson, whose county encompasses both the state and national parks, said Friday he was hoping to gather more information on the agency’s exact plans so that he could share them with his constituents.
“Once he gives us what’s going to happen, the real truth — we can’t count on what we’re reading or seeing or anything — when he gives it, looks me in the eye and tells me the real truth, then I’ll be able to disseminate that amongst my constituents,” Dodson said of Scott’s visit. “It probably won’t please them. But at least we’ll know what direction [CBP] is heading.”
In March, Dodson and Cleveland signed a letter with other Big Bend-area sheriffs, urging the federal government to prevent building a wall at Big Bend National Park and suggesting alternate border security measures. Groups in and outside of Big Bend have also called on DHS to clarify or halt their plans for construction in the park in the months since.
DHS is currently facing two lawsuits regarding its plans at Big Bend.
Two groups filed a suit Friday in a U.S. district court in Texas, alleging that the Interior Department, not DHS, has the power to waive various historical and environmental laws — meaning Mullin had no legal authority to waive the environmental regulations. The plaintiffs, some of whom are Indigenous, also say a border wall through the park would violate their right to religious freedom.
Cleveland, who is backing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, says whether he can see Scott when he comes to the region depends on if he has to testify in the case. The sheriff earlier this week invited Scott to see the area for himself, saying the “door is open.”
“Come down to Big Bend. Let me show you what I’m seeing on the ground,” Cleveland wrote in an X post.
DHS is also being sued over its plans in Big Bend National Park for waiving of environmental regulations, which the plaintiffs allege occurred without due process. On Aug. 2, Judge Reggie B. Walton, a George W. Bush appointee, declined to block the administration from continuing its plans in the park as the lawsuit plays out in court.
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