New Texas Group Proposes $2 Billion Border Security Trust for Big Bend Instead of Wall

A newly launched nonprofit is asking state and federal leaders to set up a $2 billion border security fund for the Big Bend region as an alternative to the Trump administration's plans for a border wall there. The group calls itself Let Texans Do Texas, or LTDT.

"The premise is that all of us have been against something — i.e. the barriers — now we need to be for something," said Jerry Patterson, a former Texas Land Commissioner who sits on the group's board.

LTDT shared with Marfa Public Radio a letter it intends to send on Friday to elected officials, among them Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas members of the U.S. House. The letter argues that the Big Bend, known for its parks and rugged terrain, needs a more collaborative approach to border security. The group says several county judges and sheriffs in the area support the idea. Counties taking part are Hudspeth, Culberson, Jeff Davis, Presidio, Brewster, Terrell and Val Verde.

According to the letter, the federal government intends to spend more than $7 billion on barriers in the region, even though it accounted for only 1.3% of apprehensions along the whole southwest border last year. "The least-trafficked sector should not receive one of the most destructive security responses," it states.

The group wants money Congress approved in 2025 for the wall plans to be shifted toward other measures, including road improvements, equipment, communications, emergency medical services, vehicles, drones and aircraft. Susan Hays, a Democratic candidate for Presidio County Commissioner and an LTDT board member, said walls and soldiers are not a 21st-century solution. She said the region needs an approach shaped by local communities that also supports them economically and protects the land and water.

The letter includes draft federal legislation to create the "Permanent Trust for Big Bend Region Border Security." It would require Congress to stop construction of the Big Bend wall, cancel awarded contracts and put $2 billion into an endowment for the trust. A board meant to limit political swings would oversee the fund, led by the Secretary of State and including former politicians, landowners and county officials. Patterson said the governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker would appoint its members, which he said should reassure Austin that the body would not be a "renegade outfit." The proposed law would bar the trust from funding anything that involves seizing private property.

Patterson estimated that between 200,000 and 700,000 acres of Texas land could effectively be ceded to Mexico if a wall were built along the Rio Grande. He argued that a secure border does not require giving up property rights or state sovereignty, and said the group hopes to widen its support by stressing those themes alongside stopping illegal immigration.

Hays described other efforts, including Abbott's controversial Operation Lone Star, which provides grants to local law enforcement along the border, as "performative" and ineffective. She said political shifts jolt the border roughly every 10 years without lasting change, and that the group wants to break that cycle.

LTDT also seeks added congressional protections for Big Bend National Park. The letter points to bulldozing by wall contractors earlier this year near Santa Elena Canyon and Mariscal Mountain, which it says showed how vulnerable the park is to large federal construction projects.