Strange bedfellows: Laredo's millionaires, nuns and muralists battle border wall

FILE PHOTO: Historical buildings that could be affected by the enforcement zone that must be cleared for the border wall according to preliminary plans are seen in Laredo, Texas, U.S., September 19, 2020. REUTERS/Veronica G. Cardenas

LAREDO, Texas () - Former U.S. Border Patrol agent Daniel Perales spent hours over the years crouched at the mouth of the Zacata Creek, a tributary of the Rio Grande, listening for the snap of carrizo cane as border crossers from Mexico arrived on the northern banks.

These days, he listens for the whistle of the Morelet's seedeater, a bird rare in these parts, and frets about the proposed construction of a border wall here.