Bollard Border Wall Construction in Vega Verde Neighborhood
- Stevie Quilo
- 1 hour ago
- 2 min read
Residents of the Vega Verde neighborhood in Val Verde County and their friends are right in the middle of the ongoing international border wall construction. A parade of utility vehicles, concrete trucks, and border patrol units are circling the otherwise quiet street. The active construction site is located on private land, like most of the border wall, and mostly inaccessible. State contracted crews are utilizing residential roads to haul their loads. A headquarters office has been set up on old ranch land in the area. Contractor crews began arriving by March and the project is well underway.
Matching yellow trucks travel back and forth, from the office headquarters to the construction site, escorted every so often by a single border patrol vehicle. During work hours, a continuous flow of traffic circles the dead-end road. Federal agents are stationed along Vega Verde Road, a truck or two tucked away at almost every mile mark. With so much commotion going on in the area, agents are closely monitoring all activity in and out. A lot of people from out-of-town are there working on the project. The project was contracted through the state, not Val Verde County.
When driving along Vega Verde, the narrow well-paved road has riverfront homestead plots to the left. A row of modest residential properties with green lawns directly connected to the Rio Grande. On the right side is the border wall. At first the wall is a mere yard fence on ranchland, then chain link with razor wire, a cliff face, and ultimately a 3-story-high bollard wall. The present construction is intended to secure gaps in the fence and add additional security monitoring equipment. Electricians were on the scene fortifying the bollard wall with bright lighting, etc.
Portions of the wall have been federally funded, and portions state funded. Texas has invested billions in the border wall. This particular Val Verde County project is being paid for by the state… upfront at least. Governor Abbott has requested federal reimbursement for the state's border security efforts, including the cost of the wall construction. In January 2025, Abbott requested over $11 billion from the federal government to cover border security expenses the state has incurred since 2021, which included approximately $3B attributed to the border wall.
Remaining gaps in the bollard wall are largely attributed to delays caused by private land acquisition challenges. At the beginning, land was acquired for fair market value, or slightly above. Now with more pressure to finish the wall, incentives are increasing. According to the Texas Facilities Commission, property owners are being paid upwards of 500% more today than what their neighbors received back in 2022. However, some landowners still don’t want to sell. Stakeholders are trying to find a workaround. An effort to pass legislation that would allow the use of eminent domain for the border wall construction is in progress. State Senator Brandon Creighton proposed Senate Bill 316 in November 2024, and it is still on the table.
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