The Trump administration faced off with angry property owners in tiny Redford, Texas on Tuesday, delivering a stark ultimatum: cooperate on the border wall, or the government will take your land anyway.
Army Corps of Engineers representatives made the position unmistakable during a rare in-person meeting in the town of 71 people. Marvin Makarwich, escorted by a Customs and Border Protection agent, told mostly elderly residents that silence equals rejection, and rejection won't slow the project down. The administration has a plan, he said, and it will move forward with or without them.
Since the start of the year, landowners along the Rio Grande have received packets offering between $1,000 and $5,000 for initial access. The catch: all three options in the packet lead to the same outcome. CBP gets the land for construction, either through signed cooperation or through eminent domain.
Some packets contained inaccurate survey lines and property information, but they all came with a blank W-9 form ready for quick payment processing. The administration's preferred path is a "Right of Entry for Construction" agreement that gives total property access now, with payment deferred until "fair market value" is determined after construction wraps up.
The pressure stems from a December 2027 completion target that local residents say they've heard from government officials. To meet that deadline, the administration has already signed 28 environmental and cultural preservation waivers through former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, citing Trump's executive order declaring an invasion at the southern border.
Construction companies are scrambling to set up worker housing. They're renting out local RV parks and planning "man camps" to house hundreds of laborers, with a June start date in mind. That timing coincides with the rainy season and regular flash flooding in the Big Bend sector.
Ranchers and residents are pushing back hard. Jim Stephens, who owns two plots near Ruidosa, said $5,000 won't buy his cooperation. He's seen what government staging areas look like after the crews leave and wants no part of it. A contractor reached his wife directly asking for staging access anyway. Her answer was simple.
The situation gets more complicated on ranches that straddle the river. Yolanda Alvarado, a Presidio ranch owner, was told the wall could include a gate and she could keep the key. The problem: the wall would leave her uncle's home and the family cemetery on opposite sides, and cut off cattle from river access. She fears a gate dividing her family property would make her a target for cartels.
West Texas residents and elected officials have already killed hundreds of miles of wall plans through state and national parks. Private landowners are now the administration's next target, trying to preserve what's left of their property rights and river access, one plot at a time.
CBP declined to comment. The Army Corps of Engineers referred questions back to CBP. The administration says nearly 69 miles of wall and water barriers have been built so far out of a target approaching 2,000 miles.
Author James Rodriguez: "The take-it-or-else ultimatum might work in some places, but rural Texans know how to stand their ground, and this kind of pressure almost always backfires in court."
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