TERLINGUA, Texas— The Department of Homeland Security today waived dozens of environmental laws to speed construction of border barriers and roads through Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park. The move marks the first time in American history that the federal government has cast aside a broad slate of environmental laws — including the National Park Service Organic Act, Endangered Species Act and National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act — in a national park.

“The absolute disdain this administration has for our national parks is disgraceful, and now they’re targeting Texas’ most beloved national park,” said Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The only people benefiting from this destruction are the billionaire contractors set to pad their pockets while paving over our natural heritage and permanently locking a great American river behind hideous steel barriers. We won’t stop fighting for this crown-jewel national park and the Rio Grande.”

Although Customs and Border Protection’s online map currently shows that steel vehicle barriers and patrol roads are planned for this stretch of border, today’s waiver authorizes construction of the full suite of border barrier infrastructure, including “fencing, barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors.”

In May the Department of Homeland Security awarded a $1.7 billion contract for border work through the national park. The contract explicitly states it is “for border wall through Big Bend.” Last week, the Department awarded another $2.6 billion contract, the costliest border construction contract yet, for the Lower Canyons stretch of the Wild and Scenic Rio Grande.

Big Bend National Park spans more than 800,000 acres of Chihuahuan Desert, rugged mountains and Rio Grande river corridor. The park's southern boundary forms more than 100 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.

For decades, the National Park Service and its law enforcement officers have conducted border immigration control activities while preserving Big Bend’s irreplaceable natural and historic values that draw over half a million tourists to the park each year. Militarizing the border will ruin visitors’ experiences at the park’s most important campgrounds, hiking trails, scenic overlooks and river access points.

In May seven former superintendents of Big Bend National Park wrote a letter urging the Department of Homeland Security not to waive laws within the national park.

New barriers, associated infrastructure and patrol roads through this region would damage roadless canyon country, impede river access, fragment wildlife habitat and flood one of America's darkest night skies with artificial light.

Customs and Border Protection has refused to provide information regarding its construction plans in the Big Bend sector. In April the Center filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain public records about construction plans in the area.

“These horrific plans are an affront to the millions of Americans who treasure Big Bend,” said Jordahl. “Politicians who’ve never set foot here are signing a death warrant for this wild and beautiful place.”

The administration’s push to wall off the Big Bend region comes as migrant apprehensions along the southern border have fallen to historic lows. The Big Bend Sector accounts for just 1.3% of total apprehensions nationwide.

In April the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Ruidosa Church and a Big Bend-area river guide and landowner, represented by the Texas Civil Rights Project, sued the Department of Homeland Security for exercising powers Congress never authorized. The suit contends the waivers violate the major questions doctrine, which requires explicit congressional approval for actions with vast economic and political consequences.

In March more than 130 organizations, outfitters and rural Texas businesses urged Congress to block federal funding for border wall construction in the Big Bend region.

Today’s waiver follows a May waiver along approximately 60 miles of the congressionally designated Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River and a February waiver for sections upriver, including sections of Big Bend Ranch State Park.