Big Bend border wall: CBP's Rodney Scott calls fortification goal 'non-negotiable' despite court-ordered pause
Customs and Border Protection commissioner Rodney Scott defended the $46bn Big Bend border wall plan in Texas on Thursday, calling border fortification 'non-negotiable' despite a bipartisan opposition and a judge's court-ordered pause on construction.
Big Bend border wall: CBP's Rodney Scott calls fortification goal 'non-negotiable' despite court-ordered pause
Scott defends the project
Customs and Border Protection commissioner Rodney Scott said on Thursday that the $46bn wall project in the Big Bend region of Texas is justified, telling the Associated Press in an exclusive interview that his goal of fortifying the country's borders is non-negotiable.
Scott, a former border patrol agent tapped by Trump to complete the border barrier, named knowing who and what enters the United States as the top priority.
Our number one goal right out the gate is we have to know who and what is coming into the United States
He argued that if Big Bend were left without wall or border infrastructure while other areas are fortified, the area would be left exposed.
I am 100% convinced it will be completely overrun and destroyed.
Opposition and a region with low crossings
A bipartisan coalition of landowners, local businesses and environmentalists opposes the project. Opponents see it as a waste of taxpayer money in a region with historically low migrant crossings, and say it could be destructive there.
Big Bend sits near the US-Mexico line, where the Rio Grande flows along a massive curve on its way to the Gulf of Mexico, and the fight over the wall has become a major test of Trump border policy.
Court-ordered pause in Big Bend
Earlier this month a judge ordered a pause on border wall construction in the Big Bend region, finding that plaintiffs are likely to suffer serious, irreparable harm without an injunction. The ruling covered any construction in Big Bend national park, which has drawn a loud bipartisan outcry including from some Republican lawmakers.
- After bulldozers were spotted tearing up ground in the park in August, Scott ordered a pause on all construction-related activity there while he talked to people in the region.
- The agency is doing further outreach to locals on how to build projects without marring the park.
- Scott said officials are weighing the right approach for the area, while calling border protection with a barrier non-negotiable.
We're talking through and figuring out what is the right solution for that area
The administration has asked the supreme court to lift the injunction order.
Timeline and pace of construction
Republicans in Congress funded a plan last summer to line the roughly 2,000-mile (3,200km) border with Mexico with steel fences 30ft (9 metre) high, vehicle barriers, new roads and surveillance technology, aimed at stopping irregular immigration and drug and human smuggling.
The administration says border wall construction is running at about 12 miles (19km) a week. Scott, who receives daily progress updates, said the project is ahead of schedule.
We're actually ahead of schedule
He said the project will be complete by the end of Trump's second term, with the primary wall finished by the end of December 2027; some areas will also receive a secondary layer.
Steel fences will not go up in Big Bend national park while the lawsuits continue, according to Scott.
