(WBAP/KLIF) — RUIDOSA, Texas (AP) — The message from the Trump administration has been clear: It is moving ahead with a $46 billion border wall project stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.
But in Texas’ Big Bend region, the administration has run up against intense opposition from landowners, many of whom are unwilling to cede parts of their property for what they see as a waste of taxpayer dollars.
That resistance is complicating President Donald Trump’s signature infrastructure project in a fight that has become a test of just how far the administration will go to fulfill its vision of a fortified southern border.
The administration has committed billions of dollars and waived environmental and other protections to plow ahead with the project despite the region’s historically low illegal crossings, its formidable natural barriers and a surge of bipartisan opposition that has scrambled traditional border politics.
The federal government has sweeping authority to force the project through. But a judge has now paused construction across the region, giving a major boost to landowners who have sought to impede the wall by refusing to cooperate with government surveyors, protesting at county meetings and gearing up for court battles.
“Landowner resistance has slowed this project to a crawl,” said David Keller, a landowner suing to stop the Big Bend border plans. The administration, he added, was “woefully unprepared for the hornet’s nest they stirred up.”
(Copyright 2026 WBAP/KLIF Newsroom News. All rights reserved. Contains material from the Associated Press.)
