U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, a Democrat representing southern New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, is urging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to cancel plans to build a new border wall through the state’s remote Bootheel region, criticizing the $1.6 billion project as unnecessary and wasteful.
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In a statement released Wednesday, Vasquez described the proposed construction as the “absolute definition of waste,” arguing that the money would deliver little return for taxpayers while failing to meaningfully improve border security in one of the most rugged and sparsely populated stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The project stems from funding included in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which President Donald Trump signed last year. The legislation allocated $150 billion to DHS for border and immigration enforcement, including plans to construct 49 miles of primary border wall and 60 miles of secondary barriers along the far southwestern corner of New Mexico, according to a news release from Vasquez’s office.
Federal records indicate that Fisher Sand and Gravel Co., an Arizona-based contractor, received a multi-year contract in late December for “vertical border and waterborne barrier construction” valued at up to $1.8 billion. The initial contract period runs through 2028, with $1.6 billion tied specifically to construction in the Bootheel area, according to Vasquez’s office.
Vasquez said DHS should abandon the wall project and instead invest in modern border-monitoring tools, such as autonomous surveillance towers, which he argues are more effective and less disruptive in remote terrain.
“American taxpayers will get zero return on their investment if DHS pursues this plan to build a $1.6 billion dollar border wall in one of the most rugged, remote stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border,” Vasquez said.
Fisher Sand and Gravel Co. did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
DHS formally announced its intent to expand border wall construction in New Mexico through a notice published in the Federal Register in October. The proposed work would span from “Border Monument 1” near Santa Teresa to “Border Monument 49” near the upper edge of the Bootheel, east of the Big Hatchet Mountains, according to data from the International Boundary and Water Commission.
Vasquez’s office said staff members visited the Bootheel last week and observed early construction activity, including the development of a new dirt road running parallel to the border.
“It’s ironic that by building roads that lead right to the U.S. border in New Mexico’s Bootheel, the Administration is actually making it easier for folks to enter our country illegally,” Vasquez said.
While DHS did not immediately respond to questions about the project, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem addressed the issue in a statement included in the Federal Register notice. Though she did not specify how many migrants are believed to cross through the Bootheel, Noem said the El Paso Sector—which includes El Paso and New Mexico’s border region—is “an area of high illegal entry where illegal aliens regularly attempt to enter the United States and smuggle illicit drugs.”
Vasquez has continued to argue that the administration’s border wall strategy prioritizes costly construction over data-driven enforcement, particularly in regions where migration levels and security threats have not been clearly quantified. He maintains that halting the Bootheel project would allow DHS to redirect funding toward more targeted and technologically advanced border security solutions.
Originally reported by Patrick Lohmann in Source NM.
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