Texas Rancher Wants Greg Abbott to Pay Him a 'Premium' for Border Wall

A Texas rancher and dentist who says he lives on prime real estate in a more rural area wants a "premium" price for a border wall to be built on his dense property.

Gary Schwarz, an oral surgeon from the Rio Grande Valley, lives about three miles from the United States-Mexico border in Zapata County, an area with about 14,000 residents located east of Laredo.

Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell told Border Report in mid-April that the first segment of the state-sponsored border wall in South Texas was being built on private land without the county's discretion. Work was reportedly spotted off Highway 83, close to the southern border, some three miles east of the Webb County line.

Schwarz, a neighbor of the unknown individual whose property is being bolstered with metal bollards, told Border Report that he, too, has been approached by the state to erect a border on his ranch, La Perla, a deer hunting and bass fishing enclave situated along Highway 83.

The state reportedly wants to build on a stretch of land he owns that extends to the Rio Grande, which is something Schwarz is considering even though that river provides water directly to his ranch—which, if built upon, should provide him with "fair compensation."

"I think [the state] should pay me a reasonable premium as a business would; that's No. 1," Schwarz told the outlet. "No. 2: I got to be able to protect that pump."

Newsweek reached out via email to Schwarz through his ranch, and Abbott through his office for comment.

The 71-year-old said the river is his only water source, accounting for approximately 15,000 acres of land—about 3,000 of his own, while also benefiting eight other ranchers in the vicinity.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who's long been at the forefront of the illegal immigration issue in response to what he has claimed as the dereliction of duty by the Biden administration, said on April 25 that construction on the first barriers in Zapata is ongoing.

"Texas won't back down," Abbott wrote on X. "We are using every tool available to secure the border in Biden's absence."

Schwarz, whose adult son was purportedly attacked by migrants when their ranch house was broken into last year, commended Abbott for border wall construction he described to Border Report "an engineering marvel."

The work of Abbott and Texas officials has made him "proud," he added.

"Our problems have been a lot of problems at night, where they're crossing our fences, and they're either cutting our fences, and we lose our valuable animals or crawl over them, and just literally so many people crawling over and they knock your fences down. That's a big problem," he said.

But access to the Rio Grande remains a major concern, both as a sportsman and as a business owner. Schwarz can be seen in various social media posts and news stories hoisting largemouth bass on his property, coined as "wing-shooting, bass fishing and Whitetail heaven."

"As an American, as a Texan, as a citizen of our country, it's essential," he said. "As a businessman, I've got things that it could really mess up."

He faces the same dilemma as other ranchers near the southern border, some of whom are just as reluctant to relinquish their property for wall construction for various reasons.

Joseph Hein, who owns and operates the 580-acre Rancho Santo Niño on the Webb-Zapata County line that has belonged to his family for nearly 100 years, told The Texas Tribune that the state may construct on his property with or without his consent—and if he waits too long, he may not receive any compensation.

But erecting a wall is worried to have negative effects, including driving away game and impeding a view of the Rio Grande that has been available since his great-grandfather first purchased the land.

Hein, like Schwarz, mentioned how being cut off from an integral water source could be detrimental to his herd of spotted horses.

"Do you see [migrants] running all over the place? Do you think I would bring my daughters if it was dangerous out here?" Hein said, gesturing to the empty brush surrounding him, according to The Texas Tribune. "What father in his right mind brings his kids to a dangerous situation?"

Update 4/30/24, 3:46 p.m. ET: This article has been updated for clarity.