A vote by Hudspeth County officials this week that gave a construction company access to local roads revealed the deep divide between West Texas residents over how to move forward with the proposed border wall in the area.
On Tuesday, county officials unanimously agreed to give Barnard Construction, a Montana firm awarded billions in federal contracts to build the Big Bend border wall, access to two county roads leading to the Rio Grande. The company would also have to improve and maintain the roads.
“ It benefits the community, the county, all that,” County Commissioner Rusty Moore said. “Because that road is hard, like I said, to maintain.”
The Trump administration’s plans for border walls in the Big Bend region have been developing rapidly over the past six months. So, too, has local bipartisan opposition to the wall.
Residents and elected officials have taken issue with the massive government contracts awarded for building the wall, the unprecedented waiving of environmental protection laws, and the condemnation of land for the project in an area that has seen just 2% of apprehensions along the entire border so far in 2026, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
While lawsuits that have been filed over the project play out in court, border wall contractors are mobilizing, building man camps and making deals with private-property owners to buy water.
Contractors are also trying to access remote roads that lead to the border in the region so they can haul heavy equipment and building materials down to the river corridor.
The county’s agreement with Barnard Construction this week comes roughly a month after officials ordered the contractor to cease unauthorized work on Indian Hot Springs Road, a road south of Sierra Blanca that leads to a historic site of the same name.
Tuesday’s commissioners court meeting revealed a philosophical rift between West Texas locals who continue to oppose the wall and those who have begun to support it.
The debate that played out centered on two questions: Is the wall an inevitable project that cash-strapped local governments can benefit from or one that would wreak havoc on the local economy and environment for generations to come?
Road use and improvement agreement
Several local residents at the commissioner’s court meeting said they supported the contract with Barnard because it would lead to improved road conditions. Republican County Judge Joanna Mackenzie, who has spoken out against the wall on at least one occasion, said that ever since the initial dust up over Indian Hot Springs Road, Barnard has been in compliance with everything the county has asked it to do.
“Personal opinion aside, Barnard followed all the rules once we sat down and talked to them,” she said.
The 54-page road use and improvement agreement commissioners approved requires Barnard Construction to provide a road study that details improvement plans, worker’s compensation and liability insurance and a surety bond that protects the county in the case of property damage. The company must also be in regular talks with county commissioners and pay fines for noncompliance.
The agreement requires that the company get permission from the county, and from individual landowners, if they want to widen the road. Once the project is complete the county has 30 days to review the road to ensure it is restored to its pre-construction condition and raise any issues with the company.
Barnard Construction did not respond to an immediate request for comment on the agreement.
In an interview with Marfa Public Radio on Wednesday, Mackenzie said the county previously lacked a formal process for allowing industrial use of county roads.
“ At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you're building the Taj Mahal or a dog park, if you're using [a road] more than what residents normally do, we need an agreement because taxpayers shouldn't pay for a business using a road outside of everyday use,” Mackenzie said.
The agreement is a notable win for Barnard, which has hit snags in other parts of the Big Bend region. Neighboring Jeff Davis and Presidio counties have yet to reach an agreement with the company over a similar issue that arose in April on Chispa Road, and the Culberson County Groundwater Conservation District recently denied a request involving water for a border wall man camp.
Barnard can begin work on the Hudspeth County roads immediately. Mackenzie said she is not aware of a construction timeline for the roads. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency spokesperson told Marfa Public Radio that the first phase of border-wall construction, a segment referred to as Big Bend 1, will involve installing steel panels in September. The wall segment, roughly 47 miles, will be complete by June of next year, CBP said.
To build or not to build?
Emotions, and the temperature, ran high on Tuesday as people on both sides of the road-use issue gathered at the county meeting to express their opinions in a courtroom lacking air conditioning.
Commissioners had the support of several residents living off of the rugged, remote routes who argued that the improved road will cut down on their commutes and increase access for EMS and border patrol. Some wore homemade “Fix the road, build the wall” T-shirts.
“The potential benefits that Barnard Construction can bring to Sierra Blanca are numerous,” resident Sharon Smoot said. “Besides not feeling like your kidneys will break loose driving home, the extended time that they will maintain the road will allow resources, labor, time and wear and tear on our equipment to be allocated elsewhere.”
Many residents said that the wall is inevitable — a sentiment anti-wall advocates disputed.
“ Sooner or later, it's gonna get built,” Joe Johnson, who lives off of Indian Hot Springs Road, said.
“No, it's not,” an audience member rebutted.
“I haul specialized equipment. I've delivered to these construction sites,” Johnson went on. “They don't care if the road is good or bad. They're gonna send us down there anyway. The road's already there, all we're asking is to improve it.”
He ended his public comment by saying, “We live here. They don’t,” referring to other people in the room from Terlingua, Valentine, Marfa and other nearby towns.
Becky Dean Walker, a former county judge and owner of the Hudspeth County Herald newspaper, said she doesn’t support a border wall across the entire southern border. It is wrong, she said, to “cut people’s property in half,” “shut river guides off,” and “fence the wildlife off.”
Still, she said she’s experienced undocumented migrants cutting water lines and leaving trash on her ranch, and seen how the discovery of unidentified human remains costs the county.
“You’re not going to stop the border wall by stopping construction on this road,” Walker said. “I believe that if a company comes in — and they’re coming anyway, and they are willing to help — the county needs to take that help and get whatever they can instead of just fighting to the ground and ending up with nothing.”
Her family owns a local quarry and will sell material to border wall contractors, she said.
Border wall opponents, who showed up in great numbers at an initial June 9 county meeting and again on Tuesday, argued that the temporary gain earned from cooperating with wall contractors is not worth the long-term harm the project will cause the region.
Terlingua resident and former National Park Service ranger Michael Ryan urged locals to see Barnard as the true outside interests, rather than concerned residents from downstream.
“ We're not out-of-towners here just to tell you what to do. Barnard, on the other hand, they are from out of town, and they have no care in the world about the people of Hudspeth County,” Ryan said. “They're here to make money. They're gonna get it, and they're gonna be gone, and this county's gonna be stuck with what they left behind.”
Ryan said he is against “government overreach” and the federal government evoking eminent domain to seize property for the border wall project — a sentiment echoed by Hudspeth County resident and environmental activist Bill Addington.
“You're facilitating building a wall that affects the entire region and blocking us off, taking the land. I mean, Republicans, what about private property rights?,” Addington said.
Some residents said that contractors had trespassed on private property.
In an interview with Marfa Public Radio this week Republican Sheriff Arvin West — who cosigned a statement along with five other county sheriffs in March opposing the border wall — said there were a “handful” of trespassing complaints that seemed to get resolved on their own.
“ There hasn't been any formal charges filed against anybody,” West said. “I think some of the landowners have reached an agreement, some kind of payment agreement with the contractors, to allow them to go on across their property.”
He said road work had continued despite the order because the project managers hadn’t told workers to stop. West said the unauthorized work continued only for a morning before a “verbal altercation” occurred between anti-wall advocates and road workers.
West said he has informed landowners to let him know if they have any issues with border wall contractors and that he is prepared to take workers to jail if they are trespassing. But the added stress on his small office is tough, he said.
“ I'm sure we're gonna have more issues as this progresses,” West said. “When there are issues down there, it pulls my resources, and I've got limited resources as it is.”
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