Pass Emergency Legislation to Stop Destruction of Big Bend National Park

Pass emergency legislation prohibiting federal funding for border barriers, patrol roads, and related infrastructure inside Big Bend National Park. The Supreme Court just lifted the injunction blocking this construction, and bulldozers will start back up immediately. There is no time to wait. Since August, federal contractors have already bulldozed miles of sensitive habitat near Santa Elena Canyon, Cottonwood Campground, and Mariscal Canyon. Last week, similar construction at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument unearthed Native American ancestral remains. The administration waived bedrock environmental and cultural preservation laws to make this possible, and Congress must restore those protections now. This is also a fiscal outrage. No-bid contracts are burning through billions of dollars to cut roads into a landscape that had almost no illegal crossings and no roads to begin with. Those new roads make unauthorized crossings easier, not harder. Rescind the environmental waivers, respect tribal sovereignty, and cut off funding for infrastructure that destroys a national treasure while delivering nothing for border security.