Fisher Sand & Gravel acquires lease from Fernando Juarez
By Rob D’Amico
Presidio
A Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent and former Presidio City Council member and current member of the county’s water district board is under fire for recently purchasing a plot of land east of Presidio and then leasing it back to a border wall contractor for a staging area for wall equipment.
“I’m against the wall,” said Fernando Juarez, who bought the small 20-acre ranch on the Rio Grande, where a staging area will be leased by a major border wall contractor, Fisher Sand & Gravel. “But it’s going to happen no matter what, Juarez said. “This Trump guy, I’ll tell you, he gets what he wants.”
Fisher Sand & Gravel has the $1.2 billion Department of Homeland Security grant for construction of the border wall from the state park up river to Candelaria.
Juarez lived in El Paso for more than a decade, working as an HSI agent before returning to Presidio and eventually retiring last year from the agency. He then came out of retirement to work with HSI in March. He recently had to withdraw from a runoff for his bid for Precinct 2 county commissioner in the Democratic primary this spring because a federal law, the Hatch Act, prohibits federal law enforcement employees from entering partisan races. Juarez had resigned from the Presidio City Council to run for the commissioner seat.
Juarez expanded his thoughts on the wall. “We as the city and the county and regular Joe Schmo citizens should work with this project because it’s the biggest project that’s ever come to this town, and it’s going to be a big boost.”
“It appears that the parks got their way, but for Joe Schmo, me and everyone else the wall is coming,” he added on the current status of Customs and Border Patrol statements that there would be no wall infrastructure in the state and national parks—although statements have also noted the presence of vehicle barriers, roads, bridges over canyons and technology installations
Juarez also said that he didn’t believe most Presidians are against the wall and criticized the coalitions fighting it as “all outside people.” “The hotels, the restaurants, the people that sell soil stand to benefit from this,” he said. “The city and county should see what they can do to work with these companies to benefit from it. Why should everybody else’s business suffer because [Charlie Angell’s] is going to take a kick in the nuts?”
Angell, owner of Angell Expeditions, is a leading critic of the border wall and faces the loss of his homestead and river and park guide operation from a steel wall closing him off from the Rio Grande behind his operations in Redford.
Angell characterized Juarez as a liar profiting off the loss of others, and he noted a meeting this spring in which Juarez stated his opposition to a wall without the language of it being beneficial to anyone. “In that meeting, and I recorded him, he flat out lied to the room and said he was totally against the wall, it wasn’t gonna work, he was gonna go against it,” Angell said. “I got it on record. He said it. We all shook his hand and believed him and trusted in him, and he’s backstabbed us on this one.” Angel provided a video of that meeting that confirmed his account.
“I’m very opposed to [the wall],” Juarez says in the video. “I don’t see any benefit to it. I do see a lot of harm that can be done to the farmers, that can be done to tourism, for sure. It’s just going to be a big black eye. It’s going to be ugly.” In the video, at least a couple of meeting attendees thank him for his honesty.
“Better to sell out my friends in the community for my own personal enrichment than doing something that’s righteous for a change,” Angell said. “It shouldn’t happen here, and he was gonna be behind us to help fight it. And now he’s just profiting off of it. I mean, that’s just, that’s the ultimate height of hypocrisy, greed, and corruption.”
Juarez also attended other meetings with landowners discussing the wall, but the organizers “changed their bylaws” to “kick him out,” he said. A representative coordinating the meetings confirmed the account and said the action was taken because they believed his position with HSI would be in conflict with their goals.
Juarez declined to comment on the lease amount or terms of his land purchase.
Angell isn’t alone in his criticism of Juarez, as several Presidio residents, who did not want to give their names for fear of being targeted by federal officials, stated that Juarez’s actions are particularly egregious, since he actively sought the purchase of land earlier this year and then leased it to wall contractors for profit. They contrasted it with what they considered another betrayal: Loma Paloma owner Terry Bishop renting out dozens of slips at his RV park east of Presidio to Fisher Sand & Gravel for wall contractor housing. Bishop, a popular community leader and environmental activist, told Big Bend Sentinel that he also believed no one could stop the wall. Bishop recently resigned from the Presidio County Historical Association and the board for the Friends of the Ruidosa Church, a nonprofit restoring a historic adobe church in Ruidosa. That group joined as a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against DHS opposing wall construction. Critics said as disappointed as they were in Bishop, at least he already had an RV park and wasn’t actively pursuing a wall business deal.
Presidio Mayor John Ferguson said he found Juarez’s actions problematic. “I’m done with him,” he said. “I don’t want to have anything to do with him.”
Federal statutes and rules prohibit government employees from benefiting from federal contracts. Several anti-wall activists have questioned whether Juarez is in violation of the provisions, which could result in criminal charges, termination of his position or cancellation of the lease. However, the Department of Homeland Security can issue waivers allowing for financial arrangements with contractors after a legal review of ethical considerations. At the highest level, a government employee faces more serious charges if they are involved in inside information about how they might benefit from a contractor.
Juarez said he was well aware of questions that might arise and “got ahead of it” by consulting with his private counsel and attorneys with the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor at the Department of Homeland Security, which sent him a line of questions through email and eventually said he would not be violating any ethical provisions with the lease. That office could not be immediately reached for comment.
Juarez serves on the board for the Presidio Underground Water Conservation District. Anti-wall activists have also questioned why he should serve on that board—since so many issues have arisen throughout the region on the intense water use needed for wall and road construction.
Juarez was appointed by the Presidio City Council to serve as the city’s representative. His term is now up, and the council has an agenda item for Monday evening to either reappoint Juarez to the board or name a replacement. Juarez said there are few people that want to do their civic duty and volunteer for boards and commissions. “So, I’m going to keep serving until someone else wants to,” he said.
