Scores of Laredo residents and neighborhood groups used the City Council’s public‑comment period on Oct. 20 to press elected officials to oppose planned federal border infrastructure and to resist state pressure to remove a privately funded Victoria Street mural that critics call political expression.

Speakers said federal plans released in mid‑October and a separate state directive to remove politically themed pavement markings threaten river access, parks and local restoration projects. “Walls are lethal,” said a resident who identified himself during public comment. “They kill wildlife, cause dangerous flooding, and erase the river and our neighborhoods.”

The remarks came amid presentations and testimony from local activists and technical speakers. Martin Castro, watershed science director for the Tri Grande International Study Center, said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently published a map showing proposed wall segments and floating buoy barriers that would cross the Rio Grande and run through or near Laredo landmarks. Castro walked the council through maps he said show buoy lines and proposed wall footprints that intersect the Bicco water treatment facility, Max Mundell Golf Course, World Trade Bridge, Father McNabbel Park, Las Palmas Nature Trail and Santa Rita Park.

“On the map you can see a proposed buoy line and a wall alignment that would essentially sever river access to El Azteca and overlap $2,000,000 in USDA‑funded riparian restoration,” Castro said. He added the DHS alignment, as depicted on the agency website, includes 60‑foot security enforcement zones on both sides of some segments.

Community groups amplified those concerns. Roca Haynes, project manager for the Sacate Creek Green District Coalition, told council that the coalition employs residents from the Azteca neighborhood to restore Las Palmas Nature Trail and that a wall along Water Street would “restrict access to Las Palmas for Azteca residents” and “negate all the hard and tedious work” the community has done. Maria Salinas, president of the coalition, said volunteers had removed hundreds of tons of invasive biomass and that the neighborhood’s restoration depends on continued river access.

Speakers also criticized a directive they attribute to Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to remove political or ideological markings from streets, which they said has been applied to rainbow crosswalks and to a local “Defund the Wall / Fund Our Future” pavement marking near Victoria Street. Elsa Hall, a property owner who said she stands to lose her home if a wall is built, called the mural and other public art “a promise of hope” and urged the council not to “bow to tyrants.”

Several public commenters urged the council to use its legal tools, including possible lawsuits, and to coordinate with other border mayors to resist both wall construction and state pressure to remove public art. Tanya Benavides, who described herself as a concerned Laredoan, urged the city to consider suing the state if necessary and to defend First Amendment protections for local public art.

Council members did not make a policy decision during public comment. Staff and speakers said the maps shown to council are derived from DHS materials posted in mid‑October. Castro and other presenters urged the city to inform residents of specific parcels that appear on DHS maps and “prepare and protect” affected neighborhoods. Several speakers asked council to join a broader coalition of border cities opposing the waivers announced by the federal government that, they said, waive procurement and environmental protections for border construction.

The council did not vote on a specific wall or mural item at this meeting. Several civic groups and residents asked the council to publicly oppose construction that would go through parks and nature trails and to defend privately funded public art that city permitting previously authorized. Council members asked staff to gather more information and to report back on legal, environmental and property impacts identified in the DHS material.