One of America's most popular national parks may look drastically different this spring, after hundreds of US Army troops and multiple heavy armored vehicles were deployed to Big Bend in Texas.
President Trump has sent an additional 3,000 or so troops to America's southern border with Mexico in an attempt to curb illegal immigration in the region. Some 118 miles of the Southern border falls in Big Bend National Park.
Hundreds have already been deployed, with a total of about 500 expected in Big Bend in the coming weeks. They'll be accompanied by an unknown quantity of military Stryker vehicles, eight-wheeled, heavily armored vessels capable of reaching speeds up to 60mph.
The battalion at Big Bend is under the command of Major Jared Stefani, who told reporters that his troops won't be arresting people but instead will be assisting federal agents already on the ground.
"We'll be at detection and monitoring sites, to provide that information to Border Patrol to then go out and do their law enforcement function," he said at a press conference.
Big Bend is one of the most popular parks in the United States. Each year, more than 500,000 people visit to hike, run, camp, and climb in the rugged Texas wilderness.
In February, there were 165 reported migrant encounters in Big Bend, according to US Customs and Border Protection figures, a relatively low number in comparison to the 1,679 in Laredo and 2,623 in El Paso.
Environmental organization The Sierra Club condemned the deployment as a harmful political stunt.
"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," reads a statement from Sherman Neal II, deputy director of the Sierra Club Military Outdoors campaign.
"We’d be better served supporting programs that help more service members, 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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