Updated information on U.S. Army deployment to Marfa and Presidio airports

Hello, everyone- it’s David (I know the header may say Hilary wrote this, we’re working on getting that fixed)

I don’t have substantial new information to share but I do have confirmation of some of what I’ve already shared and also some additional information.

Last Friday there was a meeting in Alpine designated for law enforcement hosted by the military regarding the plans to deploy in our area. County Judge Portillo was invited to attend that meeting and shared with me what he gathered from the meeting.

I’ll put these into bullet points; I only have information regarding Presidio County (there are other locations in Brewster and, I believe, Terrell counties)

A) The timeline they want to use to get troops set up is quick; they are looking to have contracts in place for both the Marfa and Presidio airports within 2-3 weeks so they can begin setting things up for the troops to arrive.

B) The revised numbers are about 200 troops in Marfa and 100 in Presidio. The camps/barracks will be set up to handle operations for an expectation of up to four years in duration.

C) Troops will assist CBP primarily with surveillance and technological methods of interdiction for drug and human smuggling traffic. Troops, as a whole, will not be deputized to perform law enforcement duties.

D) Infrastructure supporting the troops at their barracks will be brought in and also constructed. The housing structures are modular steel units, not completely dissimilar to shipping container type.

E) CBP has an existing lease with Presidio County at the Marfa airport (for their shooting range) that may give them some preliminary rights for some of these operations in specific areas of airport property. County Attorney Blair Park has reviewed this lease and will work with Military and CBP representatives to move any contract negotiations forward.

F) The military has stated that within the week they will have two PIO’s (Public Information Officers) for this project, so there will be firsthand information coming to the public on these matters soon.

I would like to remind everyone that the information I just relayed to you is, indeed, secondhand. I have reached out via email to contacts within the Army that Judge Portillo gave me but have not yet heard anything back. I predict things will move quickly; obviously any decisions regarding contracts and/or permissions for County-owned land use must go through public meetings of Commissioners Court. Our next meeting will surely have at least one agenda item on this topic. That meeting is Wednesday the 26th, 10 AM in Presidio at the County Annex. It is accessible via Zoom. I will post the meeting agenda up on this blog when I receive the final agenda Friday evening. It can also be viewed after 5 PM Friday on the front door of the Courthouse in Marfa.

Thank you for your interest, please email me directly at beebefortexas@gmail.com if you have feedback about this issue or others or want to sign up for occasional email updates.