The Department of Homeland Security says plans for border wall construction in and around Presidio have not been finalized, according to reporting by The Big Bend Sentinel.
In a court filing responding to a lawsuit brought by the Presidio Municipal Development District, the agency said contractors are still submitting designs for final consideration and that construction has not begun near Presidio’s levees. DHS also indicated that work is not expected to begin immediately.
The filing adds a new layer to the ongoing dispute over border wall construction in the Big Bend Sector, where residents, local officials and advocacy groups have repeatedly raised concerns about a lack of transparency from the federal government. The response suggests that some of the silence may be tied to the fact that final plans remain unsettled.
The Presidio Municipal Development District filed its lawsuit June 17, arguing that construction near the city’s aging levee system could create deadly flash flooding risks and damage local economic interests. The district, represented by the Washington-based nonprofit Democracy Forward, said replacing the existing earthen levee slope with a concrete border wall could significantly alter how water moves through the flood-control system.
Water flow into the Rio Grande from runoff, creeks and tributaries is governed by treaty obligations with Mexico, making the issue an international legal matter. The International Water and Boundary Commission oversees those obligations.
Fisher Sand & Gravel, the contractor awarded a $1.2 billion federal contract in March to build 61 miles of border wall from Ruidosa through Big Bend Ranch State Park, has previously faced legal scrutiny involving flood risks. In 2019, the International Water and Boundary Commission sued the company over a privately funded border wall project in the Rio Grande Valley, alleging the project did not meet agency standards. The case was settled, and Fisher was required to post a $3 million bond to cover potential flood-related damage.
The financial scale is much larger this time. Fisher’s Presidio County project is expected to cost more than $19 million per mile. The North Dakota-based company also recently received a federal border wall contract worth more than $2.6 billion for work downstream in Terrell and Val Verde counties.
In its response to the Presidio lawsuit, the federal government relied heavily on authority granted under the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which allows the Department of Homeland Security to waive laws that could delay border wall construction.
The Presidio Municipal Development District is seeking an injunction to halt work while the case proceeds. Its request relies in part on the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, which was not included in the federal government’s original list of waived laws for the Big Bend wall project when the waiver was published in February.
On the morning the government’s response was due, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin amended the waiver to include the Rivers and Harbors Act.
Federal attorneys argued that courts have consistently upheld DHS waiver authority under the 1996 law. The government also said several designs remain under consideration, including one that would place the wall behind the flood-control system and avoid construction on or modification of the levees.
The government said it has experience building more than 100 miles of border wall on existing levee systems in the Rio Grande Valley and argued that careful planning makes severe harm unlikely.
The filing also noted that the dispute concerns 12.75 miles of wall near Presidio, compared with 510 miles in the broader Big Bend Sector. Federal attorneys argued that blocking construction across the entire sector would be unjustified, particularly because construction near Presidio has not begun and is not expected to begin soon.
