Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham sent a cease and desist letter on Friday to Customs and Border Protection and federal contractor Barnard Construction, accusing the company of illegally clearing over a mile of state land in Presidio County, on the U. S-Mexico border.

Buckingham's letter came less than two weeks after the city of Presidio and Presidio County's economic development organization sued the Trump administration saying the federal government's plans to install barriers and other detection technology on the border along the Rio Grande will damage communities and cause flooding in the Big Bend area.

In Friday's letter, Buckingham told CBP and its contractor Barnard that the latter had trespassed and "significantly altered" the GLO-managed land by using "heavy construction equipment to blade the terrain and remove all vegetation in its path." The pictures that the GLO provided show land that has been dug up and crushed by excavators.