26 Oct Azteca residents push back on proposed border wall with 240-signature petition

Residents of Laredo’s Azteca neighborhood gave U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar a 240-signature petition Oct. 17 asking for more information, and independent studies of flooding and environmental effects, before any border wall construction moves ahead, per the Laredo Morning Times.

The petition was handed over at Las Palmas during Día del Río, an annual Rio Grande cleanup and awareness event. Cuellar said in a post on X that he joined residents, the Rio Grande International Study Center and volunteers there, and that the petition raises concerns about the wall’s possible effects on homes, flood risk, river access and the future of Las Palmas. He wrote that residents’ voices deserve to be heard in Washington even as the push to secure the border continues, with neighborhoods and natural resources protected along the way. He said he will keep fighting for transparency, public safety and the preservation of South Texas.

Flood risk is a common worry with walls built across floodplains, which can worsen flooding by blocking drainage lanes and sending water flowing into neighborhoods. Floodwater also carries brush and trash that pile up against barriers and act like a dam, a problem seen at border fencing in Arizona. And because rivers need room to spread over their banks, a barrier can redirect water toward homes set back from the river or push it to the other side, in this case Mexico.

City Councilmember Melissa Cigarroa, who represents District III and attended, said Cuellar pledged to keep working to shield Las Palmas. She added that he has supported legislative wording to exempt sensitive areas from wall construction.

Residents describe Azteca as Laredo’s oldest neighborhood and say they fear it would be hit harder than other areas by the proposed construction. Comments to the city have also cited the possible loss of Las Palmas, the neighborhood’s green space, and the displacement of residents. Speakers raised those worries at the latest City Council meeting and asked officials to safeguard a long-settled community whose families go back generations.

Cigarroa said the neighborhood has organized before, pointing to residents’ earlier fight against a proposed mall, and that the same tradition is shaping this effort. Young volunteers also cleaned trash out of the palm grove that day, she said.

The Rio Grande International Study Center and the No Border Wall Coalition also call Las Palmas a significant natural and community resource and say residents deserve better access to information on the project’s flood and environmental effects. The coalition framed the petition as a shared stand by a neighborhood tied to its river and ecosystem.

The wall is a federal project, per the Times, and the city hasn’t voted to approve or block construction in Azteca.