The Department of Homeland Security has granted billions of dollars in contracts for a series of “smart walls”—a combination of steel bollard walls, detection sensors, lights, cameras and patrol roads—along the Texas border. The efforts to install these walls in the Big Bend has created a backlash. Read all the stories here.
July 21
11 a.m.
Presidio County commissioners will meet Wednesday with a discussion item “regarding the establishment of a special road use permitting procedure on county roads.”
The item involves Barnard Construction’s attempt to improve Chispa Road to transport border wall materials and equipment down to the Rio Grande. Those efforts were thwarted, at least temporarily, by Jeff Davis and Presidio counties’ officials telling the company it was not authorized to work on the public road. (Chispa, a rough unpaved road, starts in Jeff Davis County then continues on in Presidio County toward the border.)
Hudspeth County commissioners recently approved a “Road Use and Improvement Agreement” with Barnard that provides a detailed plan and requirements for road upgrades. The 54-page agreement includes detailed maps and cross sections for improvements, mostly on Indian Host Springs Road.
Presidio County Judge Joe Portillo, who could not be reached for comment, placed the item on the agenda. County Commissioner Deirdre Hisler said that move was premature, because she has requested that Barnard come to the county with surveys and more detailed plans on what it proposes, but it has failed to do so. “I think it’s putting the cart before the horse,” she said.
Hisler also stressed that the court has passed a resolution against the border wall, so any action it takes to facilitate wall construction would be counter to the county’s official position. — Rob D’Amico
July 3, 2026
Noon
Ruidosa rancher decides to work with wall contractor
By Rob D’Amico
In the debate over the border wall, Ruidosa rancher Lupe Ortiz makes a key distinction. There’s the federal government that wants a wall. And there are contractors doing the work for the wall. Although these contractors are working for companies making billions of dollars on the Department Homeland Security’s push to build the wall, they are just the little guy, Ortiz said, and they don’t deserve the punishment they are facing from anti-wall activists on the dusty roads leading to the border.
“They don’t deserve to get cursed at,” Ortiz said. “They’re just doing their job.” In response to that distinction, Ortiz last week agreed to allow Barnard Construction (a major wall contractor) to pretty much do whatever it wants with leases on his expansive land outside of Ruidosa. Ortiz said he is a former contractor for federal projects and wants to pursue a cooperative arrangement with the current work crews.
Ruidosa is a small community 36 miles west of Presidio, with only about a dozen residents left in the area.
Ortiz said he’s not sure if Barnard will use his land for hosting workers, or for staging equipment or water, since nothing has been set in stone with their agreement. But in addition to his ranch site just east of Ruidosa, he said he and partners own about 27 miles of riverfront property in total — including several miles toward Candelaria. He said he hasn’t received any paperwork from the Army Corps of Engineers asking for access to the land for a wall. With 300 head of cattle who need grazing and water access to the river, Ortiz said he has many questions yet to be answered about the wall.
July 2, 2026
4 p.m.
Today, a must read from Marfa Public Radio: Hudspeth County officials approve border wall contractor’s use of county roads, Read…
May 21, 2026
1 p.m.
Former National Park Superintendent Bob Krumenaker—and six former superintendents—sent an open letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin today urging the DHS “to reject the waiver of federal laws that would allow physical barriers and roads, as well as related border security infrastructure, to be built inside the park in the absence of environmental or cultural compliance or public involvement.”
Marfa Public Radio reports more on the letter.
May 14, 2026
3 p.m.
The largest border wall contract in US history to date was just awarded for $1.7 billion and includes Big Bend National Park. A firm based in Albuquerque, NM will build a mix of border barrier infrastructure from just downstream of the Big Hill in Big Bend Ranch State Park into the Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River. There is no documentation posted on what the money is for. (Big Bend Sentinal has done numerous Freedom Information Act request for multiple contracts with no reply yet from the Department of Homeland Security)
Full story and more details to come in this week’s Sentinel.
May 14, 2026
4:20 p.m.
The Culberson County Groundwater Conservation District Board met today to again consider whether it should allow Pecan Grove Farms to draw its well water to supply a 500-person man camp near Lobo, south of Van Horn, to work on the border wall. The board would have to do a “waiver” that would allow for a well permitted for agricultural use to use it for public water supply to RVs for the man camp.
Although the man camp would use a fraction of the water used by the pecan farm–and the farm has a vast surplus of water available under its permit–area residents are concerned about other intensive water users coming to the area and asking for the same concessions. Other concerns are the ongoing construction impacts–already felt with huge dust clouds–traffic and the safety for families and children with 500 workers in the area.
The district board tabled the item, as it did at its last meeting. However, it approved a motion to ask the contractors behind the man camp to provide all the TCEQ documentation it is seeking to be allowed to do a public water supply, as well as any sewage permits needed. We’ll have more coverage of this tomorrow morning.
While the Ex
May 14, 2026
2 p.m.
The DHS/CBP smart wall map has reappeared after it disappeared in late April. The map now includes road construction and vehicle barriers in Big Bend National Park.
April 23, 2026
8 p.m.
If you read our last update below from Tuesday, you might have been scratching your had about changes to the DHS smart wall map. Well, now, that map has disappeared.
April 23, 2026
Noon
Stay tuned for new out of Culberson County, where it appears that a local pecan farmer is asking the local underground water conservation district for a waiver to no only draw agriculture-related water, but to also supply water to a local border-wall man camp.
April 21, 2026
4 p.m.
The Department of Homeland Security smart wall map changed today to reflect a change on its last portrayal that there would be “detection only” infrastructure in Big Bend National Park. The last change, after several in the past, shows a change in nomenclature to “technology & patrol roads” and the addition of “vehicle barrier systems,” which are wall-like metal structures to impede vehicular traffic.
As in the past, there has been no clarification fro DHS as to what exactly these barriers will be and how the patrol roads will be built or managed.
April 16, 2026
1 p.m.
BORDER WALL LAWSUIT: While the center previously filed a lawsuit over open records, this one focuses on constitutional issues. We’ll be covering this more in the coming days.
Read the full release. Partial release from the center:
TERLINGUA, Texas— The Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Ruidosa Church, and a Big Bend-area river guide and landowner sued the Department of Homeland Security today for unconstitutionally waiving dozens of laws to fast-track border wall construction through the Big Bend region of Texas. The lawsuit argues the department is exercising powers Congress never authorized.
“The Department of Homeland Security has unconstitutionally gutted our nation’s bedrock environmental laws to build a wildlife-killing wall that would permanently lock away the Rio Grande,” said Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This is straight out of the playbook they used in Arizona, where federal contractors blew up sacred Indigenous sites, bulldozed canyon walls and drained precious aquifers to build border walls. They’re trying to slam an iron curtain through the Big Bend region, gouging a wound that will never heal into one of America’s most beautiful wild places.”
Today’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Texas, argues the federal government violated several constitutional provisions, including the major questions doctrine, which requires clear congressional approval for actions with vast economic and political consequences.
Today’s lawsuit also challenges Homeland Security’s claim that the Big Bend Sector is an “area of high illegal entry,” noting that it has the lowest number of crossings along the southern border and historically low apprehensions. The sector covers roughly a quarter of the border but accounts for just 1.3% of all Southwest border apprehensions.
April 10, 2026
1:30 p.m.
The Presidio County Commissioners Court met Wednesday and discussed various issues around allowing road construction/improvements by wall contractors on Chispas Road, a county road in a remote area that winds down from Highway 90 (West of Valentine) to the border. Since contractors did not plan to attend to answer questions, the court took no action. Similarly, Jeff Davis county commissioners met on Thursday and tabled their action item on the same issue. Dozens of wall protestors attended both meetings. Stay tuned for a full story update.
April 4, 2026
Noon
Here’s a must-read from Sam Karas in Texas Monthly on her life on the river and what a wall would mean to her. Here’s a link with no paywall for 14 days, after which here is the standard link.
April 4, 2026
11:30 a.m.
Jeff Davis County has posted its agenda for a Thursday, April 9, special Commissioners Court meeting to discuss whether it should allow contractors to work on Chispa Road, a county road. The agenda item states: “Discuss and take desired action to approve a gift from Barnard Construction to reconstruct Chispa road from FM2017 to the Jeff Davis County and Presidio County Line.” The contractors are intending to make improvements to the road to allow access for heavy equipment building a border wall.
April 4, 2026
10:30 a.m.
Border wall protesters are gathering at the Capitol in Austin today to send a message to Gov. Greg Abbott telling him to put pressure on the federal government to stop the wall. Other protesters are gathering for a “picnic” at Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend National Park.
April 3, 2026
5 p.m.
Big Bend Sentinel’s Sam Karas joined KXAN TV in Austin for a discussion on the latest news and preview of Saturday’s protest rallies.
April 2, 2026
10 a.m.
Presidio and Jeff Davis county commissioners will meet next week (Presidio on April 8 and Jeff Davis on April 9) to discuss the surprise work being done on Chispa Road by border wall contractors. Officials with both counties were blindsided by social media posts Tuesday that showed heavy equipment working on the road—which traverses both counties—and contractors telling people that they were improving the road for 50 mph traffic to the border to facilitate wall construction. That road includes county roads, which are under the control of commissioners courts. (See Contractors begin work on Chispa Rd. to facilitate border wall construction)
The Jeff Davis meeting agenda has not yet been published. One Presidio agenda item states: “Discussion and action to approve a resolution and order establishing a procedure and requirements for permitting special road use of county roads.”
Presidio County Attorney Blair Park said the item would establish a procedure to deal with special uses of county roads, which she is modeling after other counties that have heavy oilfield equipment traffic. However, she noted that in those instances it didn’t involve any changes to the actual roads. Park added that a key question for the contractors will be if they intend to widen the road to a width that would go on to private property, at which point each landowner would have to dedicate that property—which could be an extremely long process.
Presidio County Commissioner Deirdre Hisler added an agenda item that states: “Presentation, discussion with action to approve the use/modification/reconstruction by Federal Contractors on Presidio County Roads.” Hisler said this would be a formal action for commissioners to approve or deny the county road use and construction by contractors, which would require details on what they intend to do. She requested that the primary contractor, Barnard Construction, have its field manager, David Spencer, attend to answer questions.
Hisler said Spencer told her he was given assurances by the Department of Homeland Security that all agreements were in place for the road upgrades, something the commissioner said was impossible since the counties weren’t informed.
Jeff Davis County Commissioner Albert Miller said yesterday that he and County Judge Curtis Evans rode out to the Chispa Road site and asked the contractors to halt their work, which they agreed to do. When contacted this morning, Hisler was on her way to the site to see if the work was still stopped.
April 1, 2026
8 p.m.
Big Bend Sector Border Patrol Chief Lloyd Easterling retired this week. Easterling had recently engaged with local elected officials for discussions on the border wall and broke the news to one official that no steel walls would be built in Big Bend Ranch State Park. (See CBP Chief: State park nixed from plans for steel walls)
In a written statement, a sector spokesperson said: “U.S. Border Patrol Big Bend Sector Chief Patrol Agent Lloyd Easterling retired March 31. This was a planned retirement, and his retirement ceremony was held at sector headquarters in Marfa, Texas. CBP is grateful for Chief Easterling’s faithful service to the nation.”
