Border wall construction is continuing in several protected areas along the Rio Grande.

As Channel 5 News previously reported, border wall construction at the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge south of Alamo caused the closure of the refuge’s levee hike and bike trail. Rio Grande Valley Congressman Henry Cuellar said Congress passed an appropriations bill in 2019 that gave exceptions sparing six sites from having a border wall.

He says he is working with Republican lawmakers to honor those exceptions in the Valley.

"I did get language in the bill to say that those exceptions we got for the Valley... SpaceX, the National Butterfly Center, the La Lomita Chapel — all that. You can't use appropriated dollars and you cannot use big beautiful dollars," Cuellar said

Cuellar says the language won't be finalized until it's signed by the president.

READ MORE: Trump administration's $46 billion 'smart wall' races ahead on the US-Mexico border