EDINBURG, Texas – As part of the President’s Executive Order 13767 and at the direction of the Secretary of Homeland Security, several border infrastructure projects funded by the FY17 and FY18 appropriations are underway in the U.S. Border Patrol Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Sector area of responsibility.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will immediately begin reaching out to stakeholders and landowners for rights of entry to begin real estate, environmental, and design planning to install gates along the existing border wall, construct new access roads, and to construct new border wall.
During FY17, CBP was appropriated funding to execute real estate and environmental planning for the design and construction of 35 gates, and to construct new patrol and/or access roads in the RGV. The FY18 appropriation included $445M to construct up to 25 miles of new border wall in Hidalgo County and $196M to construct new border wall in Starr County.
"We need effective barriers and infrastructure to deny the entry of illegal aliens and contraband," said Manuel Padilla, Jr., Chief Patrol Agent of RGV Sector. "The high activity combined with the lack of personnel, technology, and infrastructure provide the ideal environment for chaotic activity along the border communities."
RGV continues to record the most apprehensions of illegal immigrants of any Border Patrol Sector, and last year accounted for 45 percent of apprehensions along the southwest border. In addition, RGV also currently seizes the most narcotics and apprehends the most MS-13 gang members of any Border Patrol Sector.
