{"id":45761,"date":"2026-08-15T03:08:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T22:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=45761"},"modified":"2026-08-15T03:08:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T22:08:35","slug":"big-bend-border-construction-why-trump-is-tearing-up-a-beloved-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=45761","title":{"rendered":"Big Bend border construction: Why Trump is tearing up a beloved national park"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\"><em>This story appeared in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/the-logoff-newsletter-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Logoff<\/a>, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/pages\/logoff-newsletter-trump-administration-updates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Subscribe here<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\"><strong>Welcome to The Logoff:<\/strong> Remember President Donald Trump\u2019s first-term border wall? It\u2019s still being built \u2014 through a pristine Texas national park.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\"><strong>What\u2019s happening?<\/strong> The Trump administration is preparing to build hundreds of miles of roads through Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas as part of its latest border security project, despite a bipartisan outcry over damage to the beloved park.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">Starting last week, bulldozers and heavy machinery began to clear land for the construction of about 200 miles of patrol road, new border barriers, and electronic surveillance measures to cover the park\u2019s 118 miles of shared border with Mexico. The construction is proceeding after the administration overrode environmental laws intended to protect places like Big Bend earlier this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\"><strong>What does a border wall look like in 2026?<\/strong> In this case, \u201cwall\u201d is a bit of a misnomer. Despite Trump\u2019s fixation with an actual, physical wall circa 2016, the Trump administration\u2019s current project isn\u2019t always 30 feet high and topped with concertina wire.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">Instead, the Big Bend project is part of what the administration has described as a \u201csmart wall,\u201d which will combine stretches of traditional wall elsewhere along the US-Mexico border with patrol roads and vehicle barriers like those planned for the park, all blanketed with surveillance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">It\u2019s a small retreat from the administration\u2019s original plan for a border wall through Big Bend, which sparked outrage earlier this year. Still, the administration intends to build <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2026\/08\/11\/us\/trump-border-wall-construction.html\">about 700 additional miles of \u201cprimary\u201d wall<\/a>, spanning all four border states. The whole project is slated to cost around $47 billion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h2 class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup\">And with that, it\u2019s time to log off\u2026<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">Hi readers, happy Friday! Before we log off today, here\u2019s a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/advice\/499218\/be-more-playful?view_token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6InkyZjM4Q2hxRXMiLCJwIjoiL2FkdmljZS80OTkyMTgvYmUtbW9yZS1wbGF5ZnVsIiwiZXhwIjoxNzg3OTI2Mzk3LCJpYXQiOjE3ODY3MTY3OTd9.7hm-TslR8QFm-eY8tqYZ40L9jEZYKMDolKWv0ty-Phs&amp;utm_medium=gift-link\">story<\/a> from my colleague Allie Volpe about how to bring some playfulness back into your life and why we\u2019d all stand to benefit from it. You can read it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/advice\/499218\/be-more-playful?view_token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6InkyZjM4Q2hxRXMiLCJwIjoiL2FkdmljZS80OTkyMTgvYmUtbW9yZS1wbGF5ZnVsIiwiZXhwIjoxNzg3OTI2Mzk3LCJpYXQiOjE3ODY3MTY3OTd9.7hm-TslR8QFm-eY8tqYZ40L9jEZYKMDolKWv0ty-Phs&amp;utm_medium=gift-link\">here<\/a> with a gift link.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">Have a good weekend, and we\u2019ll see you back here on Monday!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here. Welcome to The Logoff: Remember President Donald Trump\u2019s first-term border wall? It\u2019s still being built \u2014 through a pristine Texas national park. What\u2019s happening? The Trump administration&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/gettyimages-2289733340.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C10.752083036242%2C100%2C78.495833927516&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}