Valley activists brace for wall
Community leaders, farmers worry fence may damage land
MISSION — Father Roy Snipes for years has led the Palm Sunday procession to La Lomita, a historic chapel near the Rio Grande. Around 1,000 faithful participated last month in the prayer-filled celebration imbued with the scent of mesquite-grilled barbecue.
Despite the good spirits of the faithful, the specter of President Donald Trump’s border wall loomed over their gathering. The president recently signed a spending bill into law that would put up to 25 miles of barrier in Hidalgo County, likely walling off the picturesque site from the rest of the United States, leaving the future of this cherished ritual in doubt.
“We’re really worried that next year we might have to crawl over the wall to get in here,” said Snipes, who arrived in a golf cart wearing a cowboy hat, blaring country music. “They’re going to sicken our community.”
The $1.3 trillion spending bill Trump signed into law in March will pay for 25 miles of new levee barrier in Hidalgo County and 8 miles in neighboring Starr County. Only a 3-mile gap through the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge was spared.
As farmers, activists, environmental groups and community organizers learned of the $1.6 billion to pay for the 33 miles in the Valley, each began making contingency plans even as they braced for Trump’s “big, beautiful wall.”
“I’m not a happy camper,” said Marianna Treviño Wright, executive director of the National Butterfly Center in Mission.
Treviño first discovered government plans to build a wall through the butterfly sanctuary last July when she stumbled upon contractors hired by U.S. Customs and Border Protection clearing protected habitat on the 100-acre sanctuary.
In December, the center filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., against the Department of Homeland Security, demanding the government adhere to legal due process and environmental assessment rules, which the Trump administration has waived in California and New Mexico to speed construction of the wall along the border with Mexico.
A federal judge in late February ruled the administration could waive environmental laws to begin border wall projects in Southern California, and construction in Santa Teresa, N.M., just west of El Paso, got underway last week.
Spared — for now
Activists rallied a cross-section of the community to oppose building the wall through the 2,088-acre Santa Ana refuge, and the spending bill ended up protecting the refuge, known as the “crown jewel” of the wildlife corridor that boasts of hundreds of bird and butterfly species. At one point, it had been slated to receive the first section of new border wall.
Some celebrated the decision as a win and, more importantly, proof that activism can make a difference, but with the future of historic landmarks and wildlife refuge lands in limbo, there is no time to rest, according to Scott Nicol, co-chair of the Sierra Club’s borderlands team.
“Santa Ana is OK for now. I’m sure it’ll come back up, but for the moment it’s safe,” Nicol said. “We need to really bring the focus over to these other places that are threatened.”
Though the number of immigrants caught entering the country illegally has fallen to historic lows, to hear U.S. Border Patrol tell it, the border environment is just as chaotic and perhaps even more dangerous.
The latest apprehension data shows 50,308 people were caught along the southern border in March, a sharp increase over the 36,695 caught in February and the highest monthly total since December 2016. Nearly half of all apprehensions are made in the Valley.
Over the first six months of the fiscal year, which began in October, there have been 30 tractor-trailers seized with unauthorized immigrants inside compared to 45 for all of fiscal year 2017. Stash-house busts are on the rise, with 78 since October compared to 106 during fiscal year 2017 and 124 MS-13 gang members arrested compared to 94 in the 2017 fiscal year.
‘Symbolic wall’
Manuel Padilla Jr., chief of the Rio Grande Valley sector of Border Patrol, said personnel, technology and infrastructure are necessary for operational control, emphasizing that his sector is in need of technology and especially infrastructure.
“We do not have control,” Padilla said. “We do a great job as an agency … but at the end of the day we still have a lot of traffic.”
Trump wants a force of up to 4,000 troops in four states to remain on the border until a wall is built.
While visiting Texas National Guard troops in the Valley last week, Gov. Greg Abbott said that, in response to Trump’s call, 762 guardsmen had arrived on the border, including 458 in the Valley, with 300 guardsmen joining the operation per week until the force reaches around 1,400 troops.
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat who represents a district stretching from the border to San Antonio, co-sponsored the Anti-Border Corruption Reauthorization Act of 2017, which would streamline the hiring process for certain current federal employees, law enforcement and military members to join Customs and Border Protection after a background check.
“The administration is prioritizing the symbolic wall as opposed to proven border security measures like more personnel and more technology,” he said.
Family farms at risk
Frank Schuster isn’t sure what to expect. His family owns farmland that surrounds Santa Ana and appears to be destined for section of fence and levee wall. The 3-mile gap at Santa Ana is meant to create a funnel for wildlife but could also become a funnel for illicit activity.
Ultimately, if the family is unwilling to sell their land, the government could file a motion for immediate possession to begin construction of the wall.
Many landowners have hired lawyers to delay wall construction, and negotiate the possible sale of land to the government. Most are in the dark about the government’s plans.
“We suspect that the rest of our farm will be the new target area,” Schuster said. “We just don’t know what the status of our land is.”
Uncertainty permeates Starr County, an area that Padilla describes as the most volatile of the entire 2,000-mile southern border. Padilla suggested the county could receive more than 8 miles of barrier.
The federal government has had the city of Roma in its sights for years. The city of just over 10,000 residents is situated on a bluff overlooking the Rio Grande that is popular with birders. A decade ago, the government began eyeing the area for a section of border wall that was never built due to flooding concerns and a lack of funding.
The city was again contacted late last year, and the city has been on alert ever since. Residents are unnerved by the lack of transparency, yet local officials haven’t been able to provide them much relief, said Freddy Guerra, assistant city manager.
“You get one message from the Border Patrol chief that they aren’t going to build a wall on the bluff, then you receive letters from the federal government asking for the property along the bluff,” Guerra said of where the government plans to built in Starr County. “Where they build: Your guess is as good as ours.”