MARFA — A newly formed advocacy group, Let Texans Do Texas (LTDT), is pushing state and federal lawmakers to abandon plans for physical border wall construction across the Big Bend region, proposing instead a locally administered border security trust.
The nonprofit organization argues that the federal government’s approach to erecting physical barriers threatens the rugged, ecologically sensitive landscapes of West Texas, tramples private property rights, and fails to address the region’s actual security challenges. “Instead of imposing a one-size-fits-all federal construction program, LTDT would bring Texas, affected counties, landowners, local law enforcement, and the federal government together to design a security system suited to the Big Bend,” the organization’s letter to Gov. Greg Abbott stated.
LTDT is advocating for a three-part solution:
- An immediate construction moratorium: Halting barrier construction and ground-disturbing activities across the Big Bend while an alternative plan is formalized.
- Reallocation of funding to a permanent trust: Canceling existing barrier contracts and redirecting $2 billion in federal border-security funding to capitalize the “Permanent Trust for Big Bend Region Border Security.” The principal would remain untouched, with only generated investment returns funding local operations.
- Local Governance: Putting county leaders, elected sheriffs, and affected landowners in charge across seven West Texas counties (Hudspeth, Culberson, Jeff Davis, Presidio, Brewster, Terrell, and western Val Verde) spanning from Fort Quitman to Amistad.
“ Walls and soldiers are not a 21st century solution,” Susan Hays, an LTDT board member, told Marfa Public Radio. “ Instead, we need a solution that has input from local communities and supports local communities economically. Not to mention preserving the nature of the Big Bend, our land and our water.”
Counties covered by the effort include Hudspeth, Culberson, Jeff Davis, Presidio, Brewster, Terrell and Val Verde.
The nonprofit’s leadership includes:
- Lawrence Collins — a landowner in southern Brewster County, and former director of the Texas Legislature’s principal budget committees.
- Susan Hays — a Marfa-based attorney, longtime legislative policy advocate and candidate for Presidio County commissioner.
- Jerry Patterson — a retired U.S. Marine, former Texas state senator, and former Texas land commissioner.
- Sean Fitzgerald — an editorial and conservation photographer and past president of the North American Nature Photography Association.
- David W. Keller — an archaeologist, regional historian, and board member of Conserve Big Bend.
- Sarah Sibley Klein – fourth-generation Big Bend landowner, attorney, and manager of her family ranch in the Glass Mountains.
Under the group’s framework, counties and sheriffs would submit funding requests based on verified operational needs and cost-effectiveness. Permitted trust expenditures include:
- Law enforcement personnel: hiring additional deputies, funding targeted patrol operations, financing overtime, and establishing small substations.
- Technology and surveillance: deploying low-profile camera systems, sensors, and secure communications infrastructure designed to respect the landscape.
- Specialized transportation: purchasing and maintaining patrol vehicles, river patrol boats, aircraft, helicopters, and horses suited to rough desert terrain.
- County infrastructure: upgrading critical county roads for emergency response, outgoing border trade screening stations, and local security assets.
- Cooperative regional operations: Facilitating cross-jurisdictional task forces with state parks, national parks, neighboring counties, and cross-border emergency responders.
