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The reversal of the plan, which had not been publicly disclosed, comes amid mounting confusion about how the administration is protecting the rights of unaccompanied minors.
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The Trump administration has paused construction of border infrastructure in Big Bend National Park in Texas following public criticism of the controversial project. Crews were filmed bulldozing pristine desert wilderness earlier this month, sparking rare bipartisan pushback. The construction is part of a larger plan for the Big Bend region to build hundreds of miles of walls, vehicle barriers and other border infrastructure. The Department of Homeland Security waived requirements that federal contractors comply with a broad slate of environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act, to proceed with construction in the national park.
"I think the administration made such a massive miscalculation when they sicced their bulldozers on this great American national park," says Laiken Jordahl, a national public lands advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. Laiken says the movement to protect Big Bend cuts across partisan and ideological lines and is "a force to be reckoned with."
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