Director for Defense Oversight

With this series of updates, WOLA seeks to cover the most important developments at the U.S.-Mexico border. See past updates here.

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Border wall updates: Construction equipment has appeared in Big Bend National Park as businesses and members of Congress demand more information. Drought-hit New Mexico ranchers stopped wall-builders from pumping water, while protesters in Arizona are trying to save a 200-year-old cottonwood tree.

Administration revokes legal aid contracts for unaccompanied children: A contract to provide non-profit legal representation to unaccompanied children expired on July 31; the new, smaller legal service provider is a Trump administration-connected Texas law firm. Many children, of all ages, will now have to face immigration judges alone to defend their asylum claims and avoid deportation.

More deaths in ICE custody as “mass deportation” ratchets up: The 23rd person to die in ICE custody perished on August 1. Other deaths are not being reported, as ICE is releasing them while they are in medical distress. Some detained people are being force-fed when they go on hunger strikes to protest conditions. ICE has detained over 600,000 people since the Trump administration began, and arrested at least 46,000 in July, a monthly record. CBP is hiring contractors to chase down deported migrants in their home countries, in an attempt to collect fines from them.

Impacts around the Americas: Temporary Protected Status for about 350,000 Haitian citizens is now terminated, following a June Supreme Court ruling. The first deportation plane since devastating June earthquakes—which included freshly deported people among the victims—landed in Venezuela. Reports inform about how “safe third country” agreements are being used to end asylum cases; deportation flights; and impacts of U.S. migration policies in Guatemala, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, Belize, and Nicaragua.

Construction equipment arrives in Big Bend National Park

Video recorded on August 6 showed bulldozers clearing native vegetation in Big Bend National Park, a jewel of the U.S. National Park system along the Rio Grande in remote west Texas. Contractors are apparently clearing an access road as part of a border barrier-building project in the park, enabled by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) waivers of environmental laws. Southwest Valley Constructors, a subsidiary of the Kiewit Corporation, appears to have moved from planning to construction under a $1.7 billion contract to build access roads, 17 miles of vehicle barriers (not tall bollard border walls), lighting, and other infrastructure in the park.

Sam Karas, “More Questions Than Answers as Contractors Descend Upon Big Bend National Park” (Big Bend Sentinel, August 4, 2026).

Over the past few weeks, observers on the ground have spotted survey crews on roads along the river and staging areas popping up north of the park — but officials still don’t have straight answers for many of the questions anxious locals have

Over the past few weeks, observers on the ground have spotted survey crews on roads along the river and staging areas popping up north of the park — but officials still don’t have straight answers for many of the questions anxious locals have

Travis Bubenik, Zoe Kurland, “Border Project Contractors Arrive in Big Bend National Park as Texas Lawmakers Call for a Pause” (Marfa Public Radio, August 4, 2026).

On Tuesday, Marfa Public Radio witnessed a bulldozer and multiple trucks bearing the contractor’s name – Southwest Valley Constructors – stationed inside the park near the entrance to Cottonwood Campground, which is situated right next to the U.S.-Mexico border.

On Tuesday, Marfa Public Radio witnessed a bulldozer and multiple trucks bearing the contractor’s name – Southwest Valley Constructors – stationed inside the park near the entrance to Cottonwood Campground, which is situated right next to the U.S.-Mexico border.

A coalition of more than 140 tourism outfitters and other businesses active in and near the park sent a letter to Texas’s Republican governor and two senators urging them to block physical barriers in favor of technology-only solutions. “Big Bend has been called ‘Texas’ Gift to the Nation’ and generations of Texans have built their lives on this river,” they wrote. “We are asking you, our elected representatives, to protect our livelihoods, our river, and one of our state’s most treasured landscapes from needless and permanent destruction.”

The letter offers a new data point about how rare border crossings are in this region. Border Patrol’s migrant apprehensions inside the park’s 118 miles (about 6 percent of the entire U.S.-Mexico border) made up just 0.045 percent of border-wide apprehensions in fiscal 2025: 200 people out of a total of 443,671.

The ability to waive environmental, public health, and historic preservation laws to build border walls, granted by a provision in the REAL ID Act of 2005, specifies that the waivers are for “areas of high illegal entry into the United States.” WOLA’s Adam Isacson submitted an “Expert Report,” documenting the very low and infrequent nature of illegal entries in the Big Bend Sector, to the court considering a local challenge to the Big Bend construction project.

Dan Gooding, “Texas Businesses Issue Warning to Republicans About Trump’s Border Barriers” (Newsweek, August 4, 2026).

The business leaders are warning that much of Big Bend’s tourism could be lost if access to the Rio Grande is cut off

The business leaders are warning that much of Big Bend’s tourism could be lost if access to the Rio Grande is cut off

Twelve House Democrats, most from Texas, wrote to senior Trump administration officials requesting detailed plans about the project in the national park. The letter raises concerns about potential damage from building a road on Mariscal Mountain, where the river makes its “big bend.” Not among the signers was Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who represents a border district and is the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), “Texas Democratic Congressional Delegation & Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Urge Answers Before Action Jeopardizing Big Bend” (U.S. House of Representatives, July 31, 2026).

Delay work on a proposed road across and over Big Bend National Park’s Mariscal Mountain until specific details of the project are made fully available and questions answered about the potentially irreparable destruction the project poses

Delay work on a proposed road across and over Big Bend National Park’s Mariscal Mountain until specific details of the project are made fully available and questions answered about the potentially irreparable destruction the project poses

A development board in the nearby border town of Presidio had gone to federal court to block construction there, contending that border wall building would harm the municipal levee system in an area where floods are common. Citing the federal government’s authority to waive other laws to build walls, Washington, DC District Court Judge Reggie Walton declined, on August 2, to block construction while deliberations proceed.

DHS attorneys argued that the border wall will increase security in Border Patrol’s Big Bend Sector, and that the Department’s goal is zero illegal border crossings. Walton replied, “You’re never going to get that.”

Rebecca Santana, “A Federal Judge Lets DHS Proceed With a Border Wall Through a Small Texas Town’s Levee System” (Associated Press, Associated Press, August 3, 2026).

A federal judge has ruled that the Department of Homeland Security can proceed with building a border wall through a levee system in a small Texas town

A federal judge has ruled that the Department of Homeland Security can proceed with building a border wall through a levee system in a small Texas town

Mary Cantrell, “Judge Declines to Block Big Bend Area Border Wall” (Marfa Public Radio, August 2, 2026).

A federal judge on Sunday rejected a Presidio, Texas entity’s request to block construction over claims that the Trump administration violated the Rivers and Harbors Act in pursuing the border wall build near the city’s levee system

A federal judge on Sunday rejected a Presidio, Texas entity’s request to block construction over claims that the Trump administration violated the Rivers and Harbors Act in pursuing the border wall build near the city’s levee system

On July 31, the Texas state government’s General Land Office (GLO) formally reprimanded Montana-based Barnard Construction for illegally clearing more than a mile of state land in Presidio County without authorization. GLO Commissioner Dawn Buckingham ordered both Barnard and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to halt work and restore the land, a rare rebuke of the Trump administration on a border issue from Texas’s deeply pro-Trump state government.

Sam Karas, “Border Wall Contractors Ordered to Stop Unauthorized Work on State Land” (Big Bend Sentinel, July 31, 2026).

Montana-based firm Barnard Construction was formally reprimanded by the Texas General Land Office (GLO) on Friday morning after the company illegally cleared more than a mile-long swath of land for border wall construction. The agency’s cease-and-desist marks the first time a State of Texas entity has made any statement on the border

Montana-based firm Barnard Construction was formally reprimanded by the Texas General Land Office (GLO) on Friday morning after the company illegally cleared more than a mile-long swath of land for border wall construction. The agency’s cease-and-desist marks the first time a State of Texas entity has made any statement on the border

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin signed a waiver, which took effect on July 27, suspending dozens of laws in Border Patrol’s Big Bend and Del Rio sectors, stretching several hundred miles from the Big Bend region to Lake Amistad east of Laredo.

“DHS Waives Environmental Laws for Border Barriers and Roads From Big Bend to Lake Amistad” (Houston Public Media, July 29, 2026).

The waiver clears the way for barriers, roads and surveillance infrastructure, though federal officials have not specified what will be built throughout the project area

The waiver clears the way for barriers, roads and surveillance infrastructure, though federal officials have not specified what will be built throughout the project area

On the other side of Texas, in Starr County, residents of the border town of San Ygnacio say that plans to build border wall and border buoys could increase hazards in a historic floodplain that experienced destructively high waters in mid-July. That flooding damaged a pump that supplies San Ygnacio’s drinking water.

Sandra Sanchez, “Border Residents Say the Wall Is Being Built on Long-Established Flood Plains” (Border Report, August 3, 2026).

Sandra Sanchez, “Texas Floodwaters Inundate Areas Cleared for Border Wall Construction” (Border Report, July 23, 2026).

Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), who represents El Paso, introduced legislation that would prohibit construction on Mt. Cristo Rey, the mountain (technically in New Mexico) that straddles the border and dominates views on El Paso’s western edge. Escobar’s bill, which is unlikely to move in a Republican-majority House of Representatives, prohibits the federal government from using eminent domain to seize land on the mountain, much of which is owned by the Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Camillo Barone, “Texas Lawmaker Introduces Bill to Protect Mount Cristo Rey From Border Wall Construction” (National Catholic Reporter, July 29, 2026).

Religious men and women in the borderland region accompany migrants on a daily basis in the federal courthouses and in immigration detention centers, seeking to provide solace, comfort and support

Religious men and women in the borderland region accompany migrants on a daily basis in the federal courthouses and in immigration detention centers, seeking to provide solace, comfort and support

New Mexico well-drilling stopped

In drought-stricken southern New Mexico, CBP ordered border wall construction crews to stop drilling unpermitted wells, used primarily to mix cement and tamp down dust, after ranchers protested that the pumping—up to 300 gallons per minute—was threatening livestock water supplies.

Mikella Schuettler, “Contractors Building Border Wall Ordered to Stop Drilling Wells in Drought-Stricken New Mexico” (Associated Press, Associated Press, August 5, 2026).

Customs and Border Protection has ordered construction crews building Trump’s second border wall to stop drilling wells in drought-stricken New Mexico after ranchers said pumping the groundwater needed to mix cement could threaten their livestock

Customs and Border Protection has ordered construction crews building Trump’s second border wall to stop drilling wells in drought-stricken New Mexico after ranchers said pumping the groundwater needed to mix cement could threaten their livestock

Peter O’dowd, “As Anger Mounts, Feds Tell Border Wall Contractors to Stop Drilling for Water in New Mexico” (WBUR (NPR Boston), August 5, 2026).

Ranchers along the U.S.-Mexico border are outraged that the federal government is drilling unpermitted wells to pump water from the region’s drought-stricken aquifers

Ranchers along the U.S.-Mexico border are outraged that the federal government is drilling unpermitted wells to pump water from the region’s drought-stricken aquifers

Mikella Schuettler, “Ranchers Win Fight as Trump Halts Border Wall Water Drilling in Drought-Hit New Mexico” (The Independent (UK), Yahoo!, August 4, 2026).

Customs and Border Protection has ordered construction crews building Trump’s second border wall to stop drilling wells in drought-stricken New Mexico

Customs and Border Protection has ordered construction crews building Trump’s second border wall to stop drilling wells in drought-stricken New Mexico

Coral Murphy Marcos, “Crews Building Trump Border Wall in Drought-Hit New Mexico Ordered to Stop Drilling Wells” (The Guardian (Uk), August 3, 2026).

Residents and farmers say contractors have tapped border aquifers that threaten water supply for those nearby

Residents and farmers say contractors have tapped border aquifers that threaten water supply for those nearby

Cottonwood trees in Arizona

In Lochiel, in southeastern Arizona’s remote San Rafael Valley, protesters are staging a sustained “tree sit” in the path of a planned secondary wall being built by contractor Fisher Sand and Gravel. On July 27, contractors crushed three ancient cottonwood trees—some locals call them “grandmothers”—with excavators. Protesters are now defending a single 200-year-old cottonwood estimated to be the last of its kind on the border.

Douglas Main, “Protesters Occupy 200-Year-Old Tree at US-Mexico Border to Stop Its Destruction: ‘She’s Our Statue of Liberty’” (The Guardian (Uk), August 4, 2026).

Demonstrators stage ‘tree sit’ in Arizona town to stop felling of ancient cottonwood grove to make way for border wall

Demonstrators stage ‘tree sit’ in Arizona town to stop felling of ancient cottonwood grove to make way for border wall

Michael Loria, “Activists Defend Century-Old Tree Standing in Way of Trump’s Border Wall” (USA Today, July 28, 2026).

The tree is the last remaining of four cottonwoods that have stood along the U.S.-Mexico border in Lochiel, Arizona, for between an estimated 100 to 200 years. Border Patrol says the trees must be removed for the wall

The tree is the last remaining of four cottonwoods that have stood along the U.S.-Mexico border in Lochiel, Arizona, for between an estimated 100 to 200 years. Border Patrol says the trees must be removed for the wall

Michael Loria, “Sierra Club Says Century-Old Trees Felled to Make Way for Border Wall” (USA Today, July 27, 2026).

Locals say the trees have served as a community gathering place for generations and are ecologically rare

Locals say the trees have served as a community gathering place for generations and are ecologically rare

Tohono O’Odham nation faces wall-building it has long opposed

CBP began planning construction on 62 miles of Tohono O’odham reservation land, which straddles south-central Arizona and Mexico’s state of Sonora, without seeking the Nation’s authorization. Nation attorneys argued at a July 22 hearing in Washington that DHS lacks authority to unilaterally diminish reservation boundaries, a power that belongs to Congress. DHS is citing its REAL ID Act waiver authority.

Cheyenne Mcneill, “DHS Wants to Build a Border Wall Through Tohono O’odham Land. It’s Another Instance of the US Undermining Tribal Sovereignty.” (Mother Jones, August 3, 2026).

The nation says the wall would be “devastating” to its lands and people

The nation says the wall would be “devastating” to its lands and people

Arlyssa D. Becenti, “Trump Border Wall Would Illegally Reduce Tribal Lands, Leaders Argue” (Arizona Republic, The Arizona Daily Star, July 26, 2026).

The Tohono O’odham Nation asks a federal court to halt border wall construction across tribal lands, citing sovereignty, sacred sites and environmental harm

The Tohono O’odham Nation asks a federal court to halt border wall construction across tribal lands, citing sovereignty, sacred sites and environmental harm

Administration revokes legal aid contracts for unaccompanied children

On July 31, the Trump administration allowed the Acacia Center for Justice’s federal contract to provide legal representation to migrant children who arrived unaccompanied—covering nearly 100 legal providers representing approximately 20,000 children—to expire, while owing providers more than $65 million in unpaid invoices dating to November 2025. Acacia declined a bridge contract that would have required providers to turn over confidential client information, calling it an ethics violation that could have enabled deportations.

In El Paso, Estrella del Paso shut down its Unaccompanied Children’s Program on July 31, laying off 13 employees and leaving 243 children without representation in far west Texas and New Mexico. Estrella is owed nearly $1 million for services already rendered. ProBar in south Texas laid off 20 percent of its staff. At least 40 law firms and service providers have been forced to lay off staff or suspend services across the network.

The administration’s replacement, announced August 4, is a $150 million contract awarded to Burke Law Group—a 26-employee Houston boutique firm that bills itself as specializing in “high-stakes litigation, environmental, regulatory, and corporate matters.” Only two of its lawyers list any immigration law experience in their backgrounds. The firm’s founder served in the first Trump administration.

“We know what happens to children that go to court without an attorney. In one word, it is deportation,” said Estrella del Paso’s executive director, Melissa Lopez. Research confirms that without legal representation, children brought before judges—often too young to understand the proceedings—win immigration relief less than 1 percent of the time. Immigration judges removing unaccompanied minors issued over 18,000 removal orders in June alone, a 73 percent increase from January.

“We’re going to see a lot of kids railroaded into taking voluntary departure, aka self-deport, even where their protection needs are acute and where they would be facing real danger to their lives in their countries of origin,” said Acacia Center Executive Director Shaina Aber.

The Acacia Center’s public statement documented the human costs through anonymized case profiles: a deaf, non-verbal, autistic child kidnapped during his journey; trafficking survivors; a 2-year-old whose attorney has continued representing her despite receiving no government funding because it would be “unconscionable for a 2-year-old to be alone in court.” The International Rescue Committee announced it would continue representing unaccompanied children despite the loss of funding.

Cybele Mayes-Osterman, Rebecca Santana, Ryan J. Foley, Valerie Gonzalez, “A $150m Contract for Migrant Kids’ Lawyers Goes to a Trump-Linked Texas Firm, Raising Concerns” (Associated Press, Associated Press, August 5, 2026).

Legal aid groups are raising concerns after the Trump administration awarded a $150 million contract to a small Texas law firm with limited experience in immigration law

Legal aid groups are raising concerns after the Trump administration awarded a $150 million contract to a small Texas law firm with limited experience in immigration law

Gina Christian, “Diocese of El Paso Ends Unaccompanied Child Ministry as Trump Admin Withholds Almost $1m Owed” (National Catholic Reporter, August 4, 2026).

Eric Bazail-Eimil, “26-Employee Texas Law Firm Gets $150m to Represent 24,000 Children in Immigration Court” (Politico, August 4, 2026).

None of the Burke Law Group’s lawyers list immigration law as an area of expertise, per the firm’s website

None of the Burke Law Group’s lawyers list immigration law as an area of expertise, per the firm’s website

Mary Ellen Klas, “Immigrant Kids Deserve to Keep Their Lawyers” (Bloomberg, August 4, 2026).

The Department of Health and Human Services ended the contract with the Acacia Center for Justice, leaving more than 20,000 unaccompanied kids in legal limbo

The Department of Health and Human Services ended the contract with the Acacia........

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