"I was looking forward to this roundtable discussion, but there was no discussion unfortunately," Sister Pimentel told The Valley Catholic, newspaper of the Brownsville Diocese.

The federal government has started surveying land along the border in Texas and announced plans to start construction next month. Rather than surrender their land, some property owners are digging in, vowing to reject buyout offers and preparing to fight the administration in court.

“We witness daily how, working together, people of all faiths can focus on helping the person in front of us,” Sister Pimentel, the executive director of Catholic Charities in the Rio Grande Valley, wrote in an op-ed addressed to the president yesterday in The Washington Post.

“This barrier is absolutely critical for border security.”