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.
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.”