US says border wall will ‘avoid’ historic Texas cemetery
HOUSTON (AP) — The U.S. government says it won’t build President Donald Trump’s border wall on the site of a historic cemetery that might have required the exhumation of graves.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a statement Monday saying it would “avoid” the Eli Jackson Cemetery while “still meeting Border Patrol’s operational requirements for border wall.”
Located in South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, the cemetery is one of two burial sites created by the sons of Nathaniel Jackson, who settled along the Rio Grande in 1857, nine years after the river became the U.S.-Mexico border.
Jackson’s descendants have sued the government and led a campaign to stop construction at the sites.
Sylvia Ramirez, one of Jackson’s descendants, said Monday that CBP’s statement was welcome news, but she wanted more specifics about CBP’s plans.
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