BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK – The U.S. military is being deployed to Big Bend National Park amid the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce illegal immigration.
200 Army troops from Colorado are on the ground in the Texas national park, with plans for at least 500 troops total, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Soldiers will patrol the area on foot and in armored “Stryker” vehicles. The soldiers not supposed to arrest immigrants but have been tasked with surveillance and intelligence gathering to support U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The military is forbidden from conducting law enforcement on U.S. soil unless authorized by Congress. However, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has not ruled out using the Insurrection Act which would allow the president to suppress insurrections.
Critics call the deployment a political stunt, citing relatively low migrant encounter numbers at Big Bend. There were 165 in February 2025, while Laredo saw 1,600 and El Paso had 2,600.
“At a time where park visitation is at an all-time high and apprehension at the border at an all-time low, we must resist the administration’s attempts to exploit our vulnerable populations by manufacturing crises rooted in xenophobia and disinformation,” said Sherman Neal II, deputy director of the Sierra Club’s Military Outdoors campaign. “We’d be better served supporting programs that help more servicemembers, military families and military communities find healing in the outdoors in addition to the more than 500,000 visitors Big Bend National Park sees each year.”
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