Subject: Immediate action requested to protect the Porvenir Massacre site in Presidio County, Texas
Dear President Trump, Secretary Mullin, and Commissioner Scott:
We, the undersigned descendants, community members, historians, educators, preservation advocates, and concerned members of the public, respectfully call for immediate action to protect the site of the 1918 Porvenir Massacre.
This landscape is a crime scene, an archaeological site, a place of family memory, and sacred ground. Fifteen unarmed Mexican American men and boys were taken from their homes and killed there without trial on January 28, 1918. Their surviving families were displaced, and no one was ever criminally held responsible.
Proposed border-barrier construction, access roads, clearing, and heavy equipment threaten archaeological deposits, the integrity of the historic landscape, and descendants’ continued ability to visit and honor their ancestors. Border security and historic preservation do not have to be opposing goals. The route and construction plan can be changed; damage to this site cannot be undone.
We respectfully request the following actions:
- Pause work immediately.
Stop clearing, roadwork, staging, and barrier construction in and around the historically sensitive Porvenir area until an informed preservation process is complete.
- Disclose the route and impacts.
Release the proposed construction alignment, work plans, cultural-resource findings, archaeological impact documentation, and any preservation waivers, exemptions, or emergency procedures being relied upon.
- Reroute and protect.
Move the barrier, construction corridor, lighting, and associated access roads away from the massacre site and archaeological landscape. Provide a written guarantee of continued, lawful descendant access.
- Complete a formal preservation review with descendants at the table.
Conduct a transparent Section 106 review under the National Historic Preservation Act or, if the government asserts that the process has been waived or does not apply, an equivalent cultural-resources review. Invite descendants to participate as consulting parties alongside qualified archaeologists, historians, the Texas State Historic Preservation Officer, appropriate Tribal representatives, local government, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
For more than a century, descendants have worked to recover and preserve a history that violence and silence nearly erased. The federal government now has an opportunity to demonstrate that border infrastructure can be planned without destroying irreplaceable American history.
We ask for a written response identifying the official responsible for this project, the current construction status, the review already completed, and the measures that will be taken to avoid further harm.
Respectfully,
The descendants of Porvenir and the undersigned supporters