By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
Del Rio was the first stop on its congressman’s first tour of his district in 2025.
Congressman Tony Gonzales, Republican congressman for Texas’s 23rd Congressional
District where Del Rio is located, visited Val Verde County Friday.
“This is my first day not in Washington,” Gonzales said. “I got home late last night, and
this is my first stop of the New Year here in Val Verde County, and that is very
intentional.”
Gonzales said he was ecstatic about scheduled repairs to the Amistad Dam that had
been recently agreed on between the United States and Mexico.
Fifty-five sinkholes had been discovered around the Amistad Dam on the Mexico side,
causing concern about the dam’s integrity.
“Anyone who lives here knows the issues with the dam and the lake,” Gonzales said.
Gonzales and Val Verde County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. met at the dam and discussed
the upcoming project.
Afterwards, Owens gave Gonzales a lot of the credit for getting the dam fixed.
“With the federal government, it’s not always fast, but what Congressman Gonzales did
was he always kept the ball moving forward,” Owens said.
Owens added the sinkholes and challenges weren’t a problem that cropped up
overnight.
“We’ve had sinkholes since the 70s, and he finally got it fixed,” Owens said. “Without
Congressman Gonzales and Dr. Giner (Dr. Maria-Elena Giner, P.E., Commissioner
of the U.S. Section of the IBWC), this wouldn’t be happening.”
Gonzales said getting the budget approved for the repairs approved was not easy.
“Many of the budgets in the federal government were slashed,” Gonzales said. “Not only
did we protect the IBWC budget, but we grew it by $30 million.”
After growing the IBWC budget, Gonzales said he advocated with Giner to focus on the
Val Verde project.
“I’m happy to go out and help protect this budget, but I’d like to get some of these high
priority items like Amistad Dam,” he said he told her.
Gonzales explained that Giner is in charge of the entire border but he felt it was
crucial
getting the dam moved up IBWC’s list.
Gonzales was worried about more than just Amistad Dam on the six-stop visit. After the
dam, he met with the Al Arreola, City of Del Rio mayor; Shawna
Burkhart, City of Del Rio
city manager; Blanca Larson, Del Rio Chamber of Commerce executive director; Mary
Mota, Del Rio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce president and Javier Martinez Jr.,
DRHCC Director of Education and Membership, along with Peter Ojeda, City of Del
Rio Communications and Marketing Director.
Later, City of Del Rio staff recapped the visit with this Facebook Post.
“Securing our water supply remains the top priority, with plans for a high-capacity
secondary well and repairs to key infrastructure to ensure long-term water
sustainability.
Other discussions included efforts to re-establish commercial air service at Del Rio
International Airport and progress on infrastructure projects like the Del Rio-Acuña
Second International Bridge,” the city posted to their Facebook page here.
After meeting with city representatives, some of Gonzales’ next stops were federal entities,
the Del Rio Port of Entry, followed by a visit with Border Patrol officials before heading
back to San Antonio.
Afterwards, Gonzales was optimistic about the region during the next four years.
“Some of the agenda items for the new administration align with our location,” he said.
“Everyone always talks about deporting people, and you’re going to do all these
things. How are you going to do that? Right? You need better roads. You need better
checkpoints. You need better facilities.
“Where are you going to get all these agents? If you’re going to add all these agents,
where are they going to live?
“Just more infrastructural pieces to it, that’s not as sexy but that’s what is needed? So, I’m looking at it kind of through that lens as well,” Gonzales concluded.
