The Trump White House is pressing forward with their border wall plan, awarding a second contact to a Texas construction company, Newsradio 1200 WOAI reports.
The eight mile levee wall will be built southeast of McAllen, and cut through farms, ranches and wildlife refuge south of Alamo, Donna, Weslaco, Progresso, and Mercedes.
Jim Chapman with the group "Friends of the Wildlife Corridor" is protesting the plans, saying it would cut farmers off from their land, essentially creating a no-man's land between the wall and the Rio Grande River.
"You have to move farm equipment in and out, and labor in and out, and when you put up a levee wall, how is that going to happen?"
The area is also a sensitive wildlife habitat, he says, and a levee wall would trap animals when there is flooding.
"When you have a 15-foot vertical wall, nothing gets out."
He says it would be a catastrophe for the wildlife.
Chapman says they've brought their concerns to Congress, meeting this week with Senator John Cornyn's office in the Valley. While the arguments were heard, he says Congress has not responded to their pleas for help.
The $167 million contract has been awarded to SLS-CO of Galveston, which also won the first contract earlier this month. Construction on both stretches is scheduled to begin in February.
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