Border Official Defends Big Bend Wall Plans Despite Court Pause
Rodney Scott, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the federal agency that oversees the U.S. border, has defended plans to build a wall and other infrastructure in the Big Bend region of Texas, despite opposition and a court-ordered pause on construction. In an exclusive interview with the Associated Press, Guardian reported, Scott described fortifying the country's borders as "non-negotiable."
Scott is a former Border Patrol agent whom President Donald Trump tapped to complete the border barrier. Last summer, Republicans in Congress funded a plan to line the roughly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border with 30-foot steel fences, vehicle barriers, new roads and surveillance technology. The Trump administration says it is building about 12 miles of border wall per week, double the pace Scott cited earlier in the year.
The dispute centres on Big Bend National Park. In August, bulldozers were spotted tearing up ground there, and Scott, who had visited the park to consult local stakeholders, ordered a pause on all construction-related activity. That pause was later expanded to the area upstream of the park. Landowners, ranchers and business owners in Texas have sued to stop the administration's wall plans in the region.
Earlier in October, a judge ordered a pause on border wall construction in the Big Bend region, finding that the plaintiffs would likely suffer serious, irreparable harm without an injunction, meaning a court order blocking the work while the case proceeds. The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to lift that pause.
Scott said huge steel fences will not go up inside Big Bend National Park because of the ongoing lawsuits. He said he was "100% convinced" that the region would be "completely overrun and destroyed" if it were left without a wall or other border infrastructure while other border areas were fortified.
On the timeline, Scott said the primary border wall will be finished by the end of December 2027, with the full project complete by the end of Trump's second term. He described the project as "ahead of schedule."
