President Donald Trump toured the US-Mexico border at the Rio Grande in Texas last week. Photo / AP
Noel Benavides owns a 1.5km-long stretch of forested land along the Rio Grande. If US President Donald Trump's wall gets built, it will have to go through that 60ha plot.
The 76-year-old US Army veteran and resident of Roma, Texas, said: "I believe in border security, but not the wall.
I'll fight them all the way."
Much of the 3220km US-Mexico border is heavily populated, right up to the banks of the Rio Grande. The government can requisition homes and land for a fair market price, but lawyers acting for residents in Texas, like Benavides, said legal challenges could last a decade.
The overwhelming sentiment in Roma, a town of 11,400, is against the wall. The reasons, outlined by residents, are fourfold: People do not want to leave their homes, at any price; they fear the wall will create a flood risk in Roma's numerous creeks; they believe a wall "won't work"; and they object to the "obscene" cost.
The US$196m for 12km of wall in Roma is more than the town itself is worth. Many would like to see the money invested in other ways, and believe extra border officers, drones and blimps would be more effective.
