Laredo speakers urge city to oppose border wall, defend Victoria Street mural as federal maps show local impacts

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…