BLAINE, Wash. (AP) — The Trump administration’s top border official defended construction plans a wall and other infrastructure in the Big Bend region of Texas, despite growing opposition to the project and a court ruling pause in constructionsaying his goal of fortifying the country’s borders was “non-negotiable.”
In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott argued that the $46 billion wall project is justified despite a bipartisan coalition of landowners, local businesses and environmentalists who view it as a waste of taxpayer money that could be destructive to a region with historically low migrant crossings.
“Our number one goal is who and what is coming into the United States,” Scott said Thursday. If the Big Bend region remained without a wall or other border infrastructure while other areas along the border had such fortifications, he said, “I’m 100 percent convinced it will be completely overrun and destroyed.”
The fight over Big Bend has become a major test of how far the Republican administration is willing to go for the border wall, President Donald Trump’s signature infrastructure project.
Scott, a former Border Patrol agent, was operated by Trump to complete it.
His agency is responsible for carrying out a plan funded last summer by Republicans in Congress to line the roughly 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) border with Mexico with a mix of 30-foot (9-meter-high) steel walls, vehicle barriers, new roads and surveillance technology to prevent illegal immigration and smuggling.
The Trump administration says it is building about 12 miles a week. Scott, who receives daily updates on progress, said the project will be completed by the end of Trump’s second term. The main border wall – some areas also receive a secondary layer – will be completed by the end of December 2027.
“We’re actually ahead of schedule,” Scott said.
Big Bend is a test case for the Trump administration’s wall plans
The wall project has faced resistance in places like Big Bend. The Trump administration suffered a major setback earlier this month when a judge ordered a pause in border wall construction in the region, citing the likelihood that plaintiffs would “suffer serious and irreparable harm without injunctive relief.” The administration has asked the Supreme Court to lift the order.
The decision included any construction in Big Bend National Park, an area that has seen bipartisan outcry, including from some Republican lawmakers.
After bulldozers were spotted in the park destroying the ground in August, Scott ordered a pause in all construction-related activities while he went to talk to people in the area. He said the agency is making further outreach to residents to discuss how to build projects so they don’t spoil the park.
“We are discussing and determining what is the right solution for this area,” he said.
Scott said he couldn’t go into specific details of the agency’s plans for the park because of numerous pending lawsuits, but he reiterated that the project would not include tall steel walls.
He also said the agency’s stated goal of protecting the country and knowing what’s coming in and out is “non-negotiable.”
He said the region’s formidable natural barriers were not enough to stop people from entering the country illegally through other, more navigable points. And he expressed concern that cartels that control smuggling from Mexico to the United States would exploit any opening.
CBP under fire for immigration enforcement tactics
Scott leads an agency of 67,000 employees responsible for controlling who and what enters the country through official border crossings like airports or seaports and stopping illegal smuggling and migration outside of these official border crossings.
The agency came under scrutiny last year when its agents were sent to cities in the heart of the country to help carry out its activities. Trump’s crackdown on immigration alongside Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
As protests against an operation shook Minneapolis, a Border Patrol officer and a CBP officer both fired shots during a confrontation that killed a U.S. citizen, Alex Pretti. The shooting ultimately prompted the Trump administration to end high-profile crackdowns in the cities. A CBP officer who was the face of the missions, Gregory Bovinowho led a helicopter raid on a large building and used chemical agents to confront protesters, retired earlier this year.
Scott said that while CBP still helps ICE, it is now less involved in fighting immigration far from the country’s borders because ICE has since hired more agents into its ranks. Scott would not comment on the investigation into Pretti’s murder, saying it was being handled by the FBI and was ongoing. And when asked about Bovino’s tactics, he replied that the officer did not report to him during operations.
Scott spoke with the AP just outside the border with Canada, where he met with border security officials from other countries to share information on threats and trends. During his trip, he visited an operations center where he said Canadian and American law enforcement work together.
This border presents far fewer threats than the US border with Mexico. Scott said cartels in Mexico are growing in number send drones into the United States to transport contraband and monitor Border Patrol agents. In Mexico, cartels use drones to attack each other or attack Mexican law enforcement.
The Department of Homeland Security, which includes CBP, recently announced temporary flight restrictions targeting unauthorized drone activity in an area stretching 1 mile north of the U.S.-Mexico border in an effort to combat cartels.
“We want to make sure,” Scott said, “that this threat doesn’t come to the United States.”
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