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In West Texas, an unlikely alliance stands against extending the border wall
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Carlos Morales
Across the Big Bend, anti-wall signs, flyers and messages have popped up in homes and businesses, like this liquor store in Marfa, Texas.
− Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Planet Money Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics In West Texas, an unlikely alliance stands against extending the border wall An unusual coalition of people across the political spectrum have banded together to rally against a border wall in the Big Bend. National In West Texas, an unlikely alliance stands against extending the border wall May 25, 20264:40 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered By Carlos Morales In West Texas, an unlikely alliance stands against extending the border wall Listen · 4:47 4:47 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5782625/nx-s1-9784591" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript An unusual coalition of people across the political spectrum have banded together to rally against a border wall in the Big Bend. Sponsor Message
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
OK, to southwest Texas, where the Trump administration's plans for border barriers are moving forward. Since announced, the federal government has waived more than two dozen federal laws to fast-track construction across nearly 175 miles of rural West Texas. And as Carlos Morales reports, the plans have brought together an unusual bipartisan front.
+ Carlos Morales hide caption
REDFORD, Texas — On a quiet spring morning, Joe Pineda drives across his land near the Rio Grande, pointing out where he runs cattle and grows alfalfa and the family cemetery that dates back to the late 1800s.
− (SOUNDBITE OF CAR DRIVING)
CARLOS MORALES, BYLINE: On a quiet spring morning, Joe Pineda is driving across his family land near Redford, Texas.
JOE PINEDA: Let me see.
+ As he reaches the edge of the river, the 52-year-old slows his hulking pickup truck to a crawl.
− It's probably easier to go back this way.
+ He then talks about his family's deep history in the Big Bend area of West Texas and the days he spent here as a child and the times he brought his own children.
− MORALES: He points to where he's grown alfalfa, pecan trees, then to the family cemetery that dates back to the late 1800s.
PINEDA: And here's the river.
MORALES: Yeah.
+ "It's things like that that I'm going to miss," said Pineda as a gentle wind ran through the overgrown reeds and mesquite trees crowding the river.
− Can we go...
+ "It's the time that you can enjoy with your kids, and enjoy (the) heritage of your land, where your great-grandparents and everybody else before you lived – and it's going to be taken."
Pineda and his family have received a letter from the federal government warning of eminent domain proceedings if they don't agree to sell the land or voluntarily give access for border wall construction.
− PINEDA: Yeah, let's get down and - let's go look.
+ It's a scene playing out across the Big Bend as the government looks to build roughly 175 miles of "border barrier." This area, one of the last pockets of untouched frontier country, is set for 30-foot-tall steel fences, patrol roads, flood lighting and surveillance systems.
− MORALES: ...Take a look?
As Pineda looks over the Rio Grande, a gentle wind runs through overgrown reeds and mesquite trees.
+ Joe Pineda, 52, sits by the banks of the Rio Grande.
− He thinks about the days he spent here as a child and the times he brought his own children here.
PINEDA: It's things like that that I'm going to miss.
+ He pulls in water from the river to grow alfalfa, pecan trees and other crops.
− It's the time that you can enjoy with your kids and enjoy heritage of your land where your great-grandparents and everybody else before you lived.
+ He also runs cattle on his family land, but he says he isn't doing that this year because he's worried about the wall.
− And it's going to be taken.
MORALES: Pineda and his family have received a letter from the government warning of eminent domain proceedings if they don't sell the land or voluntarily give access for border wall construction.
+ Carlos Morales hide caption
The federal government plans have united an unusual coalition of people across the political spectrum who say a wall is not needed here.
− It's a scene playing out across the Big Bend as the government looks to build roughly 175 miles of border barrier. This area, one of the last pockets of untouched frontier country, is now set for 30-foot-tall steel fences, patrol roads, floodlighting and surveillance systems.
+ They worry about threats to the environment and Indigenous sites, to impact on the region's famously dark skies and on wild animals, like Black bears, bobcats and bighorn sheep.
− The plans have united Democrats and Republicans who say a wall's not needed here. They worry about the blow it would deal to the region, from threats to the environment and Indigenous sites to impacts on the area's famously dark skies and on wild animals like black bears, which have made a recent return. It's all part of a $56 million tourism industry that Pineda says is now in jeopardy.
+ It's all part of a $56-million dollar tourism industry that Pineda says is now in jeopardy.
− PINEDA: They're killing our economy with this wall because this area gets a lot of money from tourism.
+ "They're killing our economy with this wall," Pineda said, standing by the Rio Grande.
− It's going to make everything change.
+ "This area gets a lot of money from tourism.
− It's going to be sad.
+ It's going to make everything change, it's gonna be sad."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection tells NPR the agency will try to "avoid or minimize impacts to the environment to the greatest extent possible" in the areas where they plan to build walls.
− MORALES: U.S.
+ Historically, the area's rugged and unforgiving terrain has meant fewer people attempting to cross into the U.S.
− Customs and Border Protection tells NPR the agency will try to avoid or minimize impacts to the environment to the greatest extent possible in the areas where they plan to build walls.
+ through this region.
− Historically, the area's rugged terrain has meant few people attempt to cross through the Big Bend.
+ And since the beginning of President Trump's second term in office, that number has fallen even further.
− And since President Trump's second term, that number has fallen even further. In the first three months of the year, CBP's Big Bend sector saw a tenth of the nearly 4,500 apprehensions made in Texas' busiest sector.
+ In the first three months of this year, Customs and Border Protection's Big Bend Sector – a vast and seemingly boundless area covering nearly 500 miles of the Rio Grande – saw 498 apprehensions, which is just over a tenth of the apprehensions made in Texas' busiest sector.
− RONNIE DODSON: We're not the No. 1 crossing spot.
+ "We're not the number one crossing spot," said Brewster County Sheriff Ronny Dodson, who grew up in the region and has been the county's top law enforcement officer for the last 26 years.
− MORALES: Ronnie Dodson is the sheriff for Brewster County, home to Big Bend National Park, where CBP says it's no longer planning to construct 30-foot-tall steel fencing.
+ A group kayaks down the Rio Grande as it courses through the Big Bend.
− Instead, the agency will now build vehicle barriers and patrol roads along the border.
DODSON: We agree with border security.
+ River guides and local outfitters worry a wall would cut off their access to the Rio Grande and devastate their livelihoods.
− We agree there needs to be walls places.
+ Carlos Morales hide caption
In recent months, Dodson, along with four other border sheriffs, wrote federal and state officials to say a border wall in the Big Bend area isn't the "most practical or strategic approach to border security in this area."
"We agree with border security," Dodson said in an interview.
− There's no if and ands or buts (ph) about that.
+ "We agree there needs to be walls (in) places.
− But not here.
MORALES: Dodson says the money being poured into border walls could be better spent.
+ There's no ifs, ands or buts about that, but not here.
− The price tag for just a single mile of border barrier in the Big Bend - over $17 million.
+ We just need to be monitored, we need the manpower and I think we'd be very fine."
Dodson's county, the largest by land area in the state, is home to Big Bend National Park.
− JOANNA MACKENZIE: These numbers are mind-boggling.
+ At one point the beloved destination for hikers and river enthusiasts was set for a border wall too, but CBP now says it's no longer planning to construct 30-foot-tall steel fencing.
− That type of money is generational changing.
+ Instead, the agency will build vehicle barriers and patrol roads along the border in the national park, which archaeologists say will still have an impact and would dig into environmentally and culturally sensitive land.
− MORALES: Joanna MacKenzie is the top elected official in Hudspeth County.
+ Landowners, river guides and residents throughout the Big Bend hold a rally against the proposed border wall in Presidio, Texas on March 21, 2026.
− In a joint letter, MacKenzie and all of the county judges on the Texas-Mexico border wrote the government asking for a say in how border security takes shape in the places they know best.
+ Carlos Morales hide caption
For Dodson, who has written his own letters to President Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott imploring them to visit the region, the money being poured into border barriers could be better spent. The price tag for a single mile of border barrier in the region: over $17 million dollars.
− MACKENZIE: Tell us, is this going to happen and we don't have a say in it?
+ "These numbers are mind boggling," said Hudspeth County Judge Joanna Mackenzie.
− OK, what can we do?
+ "That type of money is generational changing."
In a joint-letter, Mackenzie and all of the top elected local officials on the Texas-Mexico border wrote the government, asking for a say in how border security takes shape in the places they know best.
− What can we do?
+ "Tell us is this gonna happen and we don't have a say in it.
− That's it.
+ What can we do, what can we do?" Mackenzie asked.
− What can we do?
+ "That's it, what can we do?"
Some private land owners in the Big Bend say they're willing to do whatever it takes, including filing their own lawsuits against the government, to stop the build-up at the border.
− MORALES: For some private landowners here, the answer's clear.
+ A replica of the 30-foot-tall steel wall stands outside a café in Terlingua, Texas.
− They're willing to do whatever it takes, including filing their own lawsuits against the government. Raymond Skiles is a longtime wildlife biologist in the region and a land owner himself.
+ Carlos Morales hide caption
"This fight is one we did not ask for," said Raymond Skiles, a longtime wildlife biologist in the region and a landowner himself.
− RAYMOND SKILES: If this were to come to pass, it would be a rip through, you know, the treasured landscape of the Big Bend.
+ Sitting in his home in Alpine, Texas, Skiles looks at a map Customs and Border Protection sent him.
− MORALES: Sitting in his home in Alpine, Texas, Skiles looks at a map Customs and Border Protection sent him.
SKILES: It'd be like taking a knife to the Mona Lisa and just cutting it in two and leaving that rent scar across it.
MORALES: For Skiles, an imposing barrier through the Big Bend would be a painful reminder of what once was - an unwanted memorial to the place he calls home.
+ "If this were to come to pass, it would be a rip in the treasured landscape of the Big Bend," said Skiles, holding back tears.
− For NPR News, I'm Carlos Morales in the Big Bend area of West Texas.
+ "It'd be like taking a knife to the Mona Lisa, and just cutting it in two and leaving that rent scar across it."
For Skiles, an imposing barrier through the Big Bend would be a painful reminder of what once was, an unwanted memorial to the place he calls home.
− (SOUNDBITE OF TAY IWAR SONG, "REFLECTION STATION") Copyright © 2026 NPR.
+ Raymond Skiles holds the letter with a map he received from U.S.
− All rights reserved.
+ Customs and Border Protection earlier this year.
− Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
+ It shows the proposed path the border wall would take through his family land in Langtry, Texas.
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+ Carlos Morales hide caption
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