Angry Texas landowners confront Trump admin over sloppy border wall plans (axios.com)

REDFORD, Texas — The Trump administration delivered a blunt message to angry landowners at a rare in-person meeting on Tuesday: Work with us on the border wall , or we'll build it anyway. Why it matters: The Trump administration's pressure to show progress on border wall mileage in west Texas is leading to rushed and sloppy work that's infuriating local residents, ranchers and the tourism industry. Local residents told Axios they've heard that the goal is to finish construction as soon as December 2027. Since the start of the year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been mailing out packages — sometimes with inaccurate survey lines or owner information — offering people between $1,000 and $5,000 for initial access, according to landowners who have received these packets. The packets list three options for landowners: all of them end up with U.S. Customs and Border Protection getting the land for construction through degrees of cooperation or eminent domain. Zoom in: The Trump administration has done as much as possible to fast-track the construction process in the Big Bend sector, home to the national and state parks of the same name. Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem signed 28 environmental and cultural preservation waivers to speed up the project, citing Trump's executive order that there's an invasion at the southern border. Construction companies are rushing to set up "man camps" and rent out local RV parks with plans to house hundreds of workers. Their goal is to start work in June, which will coincide with the start of the rainy season and regular flash flooding. Two representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers take questions from concerned landowners in Redford, Texas. Photo: Brittany Gibson/Axios Between the lines: Two representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers were clear about their mission during Tuesday's meeting in Redford, population 71 . "If the administration has a plan, and we try to coordinate with a landowner and the landowner doesn't respond to us, that's a ... a message [that] you don't agree," Marvin Makarwich, who was escorted by a CBP agent, told a group of mostly elderly landowners in the small town. "But you're also not having communications to try to figure out if there's a way to do something different." Axios was present at the meeting at the invitation of local landowners. Makarwich's message follows letters, emails and phone calls made across the riverfront communities since the start of the year. The Trump administration's "preferred and ideal route" is for land owners to sign a "Right of Entry for Construction" form, giving away total property access for surveys and construction for a negotiated price "once construction is completed" the letter says. "It allows us to work collaboratively with you, complete construction as quickly as possible, and then pay you for the fair market value of any property rights CBP determines it needs going forward," the letter says. This CAD map close up shows