Lauren Villagran
speaker
218 appearances
3 recordings
1 series
first heard Jan 2026
last heard 3 Apr
Lauren Villagran’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 3 in all, peaking in Apr 2026 with 2.
Appearances
announced by U.S.
Customs and Border Protection.
And many people, Dana, told me that at first they didn't really believe that anything was going to happen.
Trump, as you know, has been talking about a border wall since at least 2015.
That was one of the big promises of his 2015 campaign.
And he did build hundreds of miles of border fencing, though much of it was replacement fencing.
In February, the plans became increasingly real as contractors began showing up on the ground and landowners, Dana, began receiving eminent domain notices.
Essentially, the federal government saying, we're going to strike a deal with you to take part of your land or else.
Well, Dana, it's not 100% clear.
DHS and U.S.
Customs and Border Protection has begun using this language, smart wall.
I believe it does refer to, you know, the technology that is deployed at the border, everything from hidden in-ground sensors to drones and infrared lighting.
But at the end of the day, a physical barrier is still part of it.
Now, what is being considered in the Big Bend sector, which stretches over 517 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, is a variety of physical barrier and border security technologies.
Officially, CBP, including Border Patrol, tells me that plans are not firm and that the agency is listening to constituents in the region.
More unofficially, local elected officials who have met directly with local Big Bend sector Border Patrol leadership say that both leadership and agents on the ground are not in favor of
of a 30-foot steel barrier through most of the sector.
That's because there are natural barriers of, you know, these sprawling mountains and canyons.
In some places, the river is wide and the desert is extreme, extreme weather.
It's huge.
Showing 81–100 of 218 · page 5 of 11
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