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The Trump administration’s plans to install borders barriers and other technological devices along the Rio Grande, according to an economic development group for Presidio and Presidio County, may cause communities in the Big Bend area to flood, according to a lawsuit brought by an economic development group.
The Presidio Municipal Development District, which is governed by a committee appointed by the city of Presidio, filed the lawsuit in a federal court in Washington, D.C. on behalf of Democracy Forward, a nonprofit organization with headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The Trump administration’s border wall programs in the Big Bend area, which are made up of Presidio, Jeff Davis, and Brewster regions, are irresponsible and disregard the hurt border barriers will do to the area, according to Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward.
According to Perryman, “Construction on the governmental flood control works in Presidio had compromise their integrity and make the area susceptible to deadly flash floods that threaten agriculture, homes, farmland, and infrastructure.” That signifies actual damage to the local residents. Democracy Forward is honored to hold the government responsible for its careless progress with the development of the border wall.
The Trump administration is still in the planning stages of installing systems and border restrictions in the Big Bend area, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Democracy Forward claims in the complaint that the Trump administration did not request permission to construct any frontier barriers along the levee system and limit line, which was managed and built by the International Boundary and Water Commission.
According to the state, placing 30-foot metal bollards embedded in a concrete bottom on top of the existing levee’s earthen slope may cause risky floods. The region has been protected from harmful floods by the latest earthen levees since 1978 and 2008, when parts of Presidio have flooded. Altering the current levees may lead to even greater injury, according to the complaint.
