LGC Global in Detroit Awarded $51.9M Contract to Build Portion of U.S.-Mexico Border Wall (Del Rio & Eagle Pass, Texas)

LGC Global Corp., a multi-faceted, minority-owned contracting company in Detroit, has been awarded a $51.9-million contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build a four-mile section of the border wall between the United States and Mexico.

The work will begin in the next two weeks and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The federal government is working with several contractors to build the border wall from south of San Diego to the eastern shoreline of Texas, near Brownsville, at the Gulf of Mexico.

The LGC Global project consists of building the 30-foot-tall wall in two different areas of Texas — Del Rio and Eagle Pass — some of which is considered rough terrain. In addition to the wall, which consists of steel panels and concrete, the company will construct access roads, drainage infrastructure, and security features like cameras and gates to accommodate the U.S. Border Patrol.

It is the first wall contract the company has been awarded. “We are fortunate to be one of the awardees of this work, and we appreciate the federal government’s trust in our ability to perform and complete this fast-track job,” says Avinash Rachmale, president and CEO of LGC Global. Working with Rachmale to oversee the project is Shashi Shastri, executive vice president — administration federal programs, and Gino DiBattista, executive vice president — operations federal programs.

For more than 15 years, LGC Global has been an approved military contractor both in the U.S. and across the globe. Overseas, the company has built military facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“historically eagle pass has been a haven for horse thieves...”

These two towns have historically been relatively quiet from the really big drug and human smuggling operations though.

That has been changing, as the historically major cartel-dominated corridors are being blocked (San Diego, the Rio Grande Valley and Yuma). In 2019, the Del Rio Sector (which includes the towns of both Del Rio and Eagle Pass) saw the largest percentage increase in illegal traffic (although from a very low baseline).

Those two towns are the crossing points for the major roads in the area, on both the American and Mexican sides, and their counterpart cities on the Mexican side (Ciudad Acuña and Piedras Negras (Black Rocks)) are four to five times larger in population. The Eagle Pass Port of Entry moves a lot of freight, and is a big area for hydrocarbon production (fracking).

They are among the most suitable alternative routes, after the already funded Rio Grande and Laredo Sector barrier gets completed (next year), so they would likely be in for a troubling wave of violent criminal cartel activity, coming into their relatively small communities (~30K populations).

So these new barriers, although not many miles, will strongly wall off those small urban areas (30 feet high, with patrol road, lights, alarms and cameras), and divert any new traffic out of town into rural areas, where Border Patrol will have an easier time handling them, and the citizens (and local politicians and police) will be safer from cartel violence and corruption.

If this year’s Military Construction funds ($3.6 billion) are finally transferred from DoD (as announced, but not actually done yet), I would expect some more mileage in the Del Rio Sector (possibly 100 miles), to further strengthen the fortifications there, against becoming a new main corridor. Their favorable geography (terrain) puts them at high risk of becoming the easiest route left, as Trump-style Super Wall System shuts the traditional routes up tight.

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