ROMA, Texas (AP) — Stymied by Congress and the courts, President Donald Trump has struggled to make good on his signature campaign promises to build a wall and stop migrants. But there is at least one place where his vision is becoming reality: the sinuous lower Rio Grande Valley, scene of more unauthorized crossings than any other stretch between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
Last week, as Texas National Guard troops were taking up positions on the state’s southern edge at Trump’s request, the head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection told lawmakers that the agency hopes to award contracts by September for border wall construction near where the Rio Grande meets the Gulf. And the U.S. government’s efforts to identify and begin the seizure of private land along the river “are well underway,” CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan told a congressional subcommittee Thursday.
Last month, Congress rejected Trump’s request for up to $25 billion to build the full length of his coveted wall, but he did win funding for 33 miles (53 kilometers) of barriers in the Rio Grande Valley.
And while the Guard will eventually withdraw, a wall could change the region forever.
This stretch of border is the only place where the National Guard is deployed and where Congress funded the construction of new walls, instead of replacing or fortifying existing barriers.
The current plans call for up to 25 miles (40 kilometers) of construction in Hidalgo County, which includes the city of McAllen and already has segments of stop-and-start border fencing, some of it installed well north of the river.
The remaining construction would go in Starr County, further west. CBP last year issued a map that marked off several cities in the county for construction, including Roma and Rio Grande City.
Roma was built on the bluffs overlooking the Rio Grande and Ciudad Miguel Aleman on the southern side of what Mexicans call el Rio Bravo del Norte — the furious river of the north. From the bluffs, visitors can hear roosters clucking in Miguel Aleman and see schoolchildren and traffic crossing a tiny bridge.
Trump says the Guard is necessary to guard the border until the wall can be built across the U.S.-Mexico border. His administration and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a fellow Republican, have cited a recent increase in the number of border crossings and what they say are more smugglers and gang members trying to enter the United States.
Trump became the third U.S. president in a row to deploy the National Guard to the border. The law enforcement presence in South Texas aside from the Guard has grown steadily. The Border Patrol employs around 3,000 agents in the Rio Grande Valley, roughly eight times the number in 1992.
