Trump administration begins construction on Texas’s Big Bend border wall

The Trump administration began construction on a portion of the U.S.-Mexico border wall cutting through southwest Texas’s Big Bend region despite local leaders’ pushback against the project.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told the Associated Press Friday that installation of 30-foot panels was already underway along this portion southern border. The construction started earlier this week, with the agency posted a photo to its website appearing to show a crane lifting one piece of the wall into place.

Big Bend is located on the bend of the Rio Grande and is known for its mountain range, river canyons and desert landscape; it is also home to an eponymous national park . There are five total projects in the region, with the Hudspeth County project being called “Big Bend 1″ on CBP’s website .

CBP added that it is not planning to construct a wall in “Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, or the Black Gap Wildlife Management Area.”

A federal judge paused Big Bend projects 2 and 4 until the end of September to “allow for additional public engagement.”

Local leaders and residents of Big Bend have expressed concern that the border wall projects will infringe on landowners’ rights. They also fear its presence will diminish its national park, in turn, impacting the economy.

Clara Benson, the founder of the No Big Bend Wall Coalition, told the AP she had received reports of construction supplies moving into the regions, adding her group would “continue to fight for this land no matter what the outcome is.”

“We will continue fighting to the end,” Benson said, per the AP. “You talk to people in west Texas and they say even if they put it up, we’ll fight for them to take it down. So this fight is not over.”

Yolanda Alvarado, a local cattle rancher and regional director for advocacy group No Big Bend Wall, said , “Our livelihoods are threatened at this point. Not just landowners, but business owners, and not just Big Bend National Park …. it’s everyone in this region.”

In March, bipartisan sheriffs from five counties wrote a letter to federal and state officials opposing the wall in the region. More recently, outgoing Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R) urged federal officials to meet with stakeholders about the issue.

CBP did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.