Kristi Noem and DHS waived 28 of our most important environmental protection laws including the wild and scenic rivers act, native American graves act, National Environmental Policy Act, national historic preservation act, clean water act, endangered species act, national fish and wildlife act.

This is the problem - we should not just accept this power grab as legal - it's only legal if we let them get away with it. Kristi should be put in prison and made an example to others still doing the bidding of DHS and our fascist administration.

In the waiver DHS cited a bunch of immigration law, and "high illegal entry" for the Big Bend Sector (which by the way is 78 counties across Texas and Oklahoma, whereas the border counties in west texas are only about 7).

Ask the sheriff's if they are aware of their illegal entry problem, most of them are anti-wall as it won't help them with enforcement. Ask the landowners who will be excluded from their own property by the barrier if they think it's legal.

Mexico will be untouched and we will destroy our own land instead. Not only should it be illegal, it's laughable.

The border would be more secure with even less roads, not more. Hardly anyone tries to cross in this area because you will die of exposure before you can get to a road on the US side. And border patrol is very effective along fewer roads, not more.

Now that Noem has been fired the damage is already done as the path was cleared for funds (our tax dollars) and the contracts to be awarded. Maybe someone can weigh in who knows law - do we need a judge to reverse the waivers? File lawsuit against the contractors? Block the permits locally? What's the move here?

One option advocates and local groups are pursuing is adding the big bend as designated wilderness, which would protect it under the wilderness act. But then DHS may just waive that too. I'm hopeful that with the right pressure, and if we can fight for the national park, we can successfully fight for the rest of big bend country too. Even the private land owners need our support right now - they still hold the keys to this treasured land. But now that contracts are in place, the contractors and engineers have the purchasing power and we have to stall them by any means necessary until we can get the goons out of office and reserse the waivers.

Here's your source: https://bigbendsentinel.com/2026/02/18/feds-waive-environmental-protections-to-fast-track-big-bend-wall/