ZAPATA, Texas (Border Report) — A local rancher is weighing the pros and cons of letting the State of Texas build a new segment of border wall, which he says is “an engineering marvel,” on his rural riverfront property.

Dr. Gary Schwarz is an oral surgeon from the Rio Grande Valley who owns La Perla, a deer hunting and bass fishing ranch in far western Zapata County just north of Highway 83. He also owns a nearby strip of land that goes to the Rio Grande, from where he gets water for his ranch, and that is where the state wants to build its border wall.

His neighbor to the north has already allowed the state to construct the 30-foot-tall metal bollards through his riverfront property, and so has another rancher north of that.

The Texas Facilities Commission hired a company that began construction in March, and the land has been shorn of trees and brush and sloped, and the bollards have been going up at a quick pace.

It’s the first segment of border wall ever to be built in Zapata County — a rural, ranching county with a population of just 14,000.

About a week ago, Schwarz, 71, says he received a contract offer from the state for his riverfront land, which he is mulling over.

“This is an engineering marvel. It’s beautiful,” Schwarz said Sunday as he took Border Report on a tour of the border wall construction site.

“It’s opened up a visual of this drainage rio. These banks were just vertical and they’ve sloped them. It’s beautiful, in my opinion, and it makes me feel more secure,” said Schwarz, who was named 2020 Texas Dentist of the Year by the Texas Academy of General Dentistry.

He says his ranch house was broken into about a year ago, and his adult son was attacked by individuals in a group of migrants. He said the incident was “quite frightening,” and he believes more border security is needed.

The property, which he bought in 2005, also has had a lot of fence damage from migrants crossing, he said.

“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.

Schwarz says since Gov. Greg Abbott began Operation Lone Star in 2021, sending National Guard troops and DPS troopers to the border, he has noticed a decrease in illegal immigration in Zapata. And he is grateful for the efforts.

“It really makes me proud of the State of Texas Gov. Abbott and the work they’re doing here,” he said.

But he has some concerns about the wall through his border property.

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

Namely, he wants the state to guarantee that he will continue to have access to his water pump and water rights in the Rio Grande.

His bass ponds rely on water pumped from the Rio Grande, as does his ranch, located about 3 miles from the river.

“It’s my only source of water, my river pump for 15,000 acres of land — 3,000 of my own, eight other owners owning the rest. And we need that water,” he said.

He also wants assurances that he could still take birding tours south of the wall, where Chachalaca birds — which resemble small, brown chickens — can be heard crowing.

“I do Audubon tours on the river. And that’s a big part of my business model. And so if we can solve those issues, I want to have this wall,” Schwarz said.

He says it’s a popular spot for birders where rare species, not found elsewhere in the United States, can sometimes be seen, and adding that he’s not losing that opportunity to show this spot to others because of a wall.

The vista from atop rocks in the middle of the Rio Grande shows the new segment of state-built border wall in Zapata, Texas. Dr. Gary Schwarz says Mexican Gen. Francisco ‘Pancho’ Villa crossed his armies at this point, which now belongs to Schwarz. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report Photos)

The steep incline leading down to the river is a dirt road. At the base of it is a pristine river wonderland with unique giant rocks jutting in the middle of the Rio Grande. It makes the distance across to Mexico seem minimal, but Schwarz says the water is very deep.

Schwarz says this is where Mexican Gen. Francisco “Pancho” Villa used to cross his army during the Mexican Revolution.

He wants “fair compensation” for the State of Texas to put a wall on his property, as well as a gravel road leading to it and a gate.

“And if I don’t agree to it, there’s going to be a hole in the wall,” he said.

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.