1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

I have written before about the proposed border construction in Big Bend, and I am writing again because apparently the message has not gotten through: Stop it. CBP has lifted its pause on ground-disturbing activity connected to the Big Bend border projects. I do not want this project restarted, redesigned, downsized, relocated a few feet, or repackaged under another name. I want it stopped. I have already written to you about the ecological, historical, cultural, archaeological, and practical reasons this is such a terrible idea. I should not have to keep explaining why one of the most extraordinary regions in Texas deserves protection from the federal government itself. There are ways to secure and monitor this remote border without carving massive roads through the landscape, erecting walls and vehicle barriers, installing industrial lighting, clearing habitat, and turning protected desert into a construction corridor. Enough. If you represent Texas, then protecting Texas should include protecting places that cannot be replaced. Big Bend is not expendable. The Chihuahuan Desert is not expendable. Its wildlife corridors, dark skies, archaeological resources, cultural landscapes, and extraordinary natural beauty are not expendable. And “border security” is not a magic phrase that makes unnecessary environmental destruction acceptable. Use surveillance. Use sensors. Use personnel. Use the technology already available. Use solutions appropriate to the terrain. Do not destroy the terrain in order to monitor it. I am asking you to oppose this project publicly and use your authority in Congress—through legislation, appropriations, oversight, and direct pressure on DHS and CBP—to stop additional destructive border infrastructure in Big Bend National Park and the greater Big Bend region. Not a smaller wall. Not a shorter wall. Not more roads instead of a wall. Not barriers, lights, and bulldozed corridors marketed as a compromise. No. Stop it. Protect Big Bend. I expect the people who represent Texas to defend this irreplaceable part of Texas rather than continuing to allow it to be damaged. Enough is enough.