A few dozen border residents, riverfront landowners and environmental advocates gathered outside the Texas Capitol to urge state and federal officials to stop building walls and other barriers along the Rio Grande. The rally, organized by the Texas Says No Border Wall coalition, brought speakers from various regions to Austin as new federal border wall plans have renewed fears about flooding, land access, wildlife habitat and the future of communities built along the river. The event came days after the Department of Homeland Security published a waiver allowing federal officials to bypass environmental, historic preservation, public lands and other laws to speed construction of barriers and roads in the Big Bend Sector. Speakers at the rally said that communities along the Rio Grande have been left trying to decipher federal plans and called for Congress to pause construction. They warned that concertina wire and other barriers could worsen river problems and push floodwaters toward neighborhoods built close to the river. Others said border communities are being asked to absorb those risks while basic needs go unmet.
The Rio Grande slices the 1,500-foot-high walls of the Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend National Park.
Contributed by Ann Wildemuth, Austin American-Statesman