The federal government is trying to reassure Texas border communities their input will be considered before a border fence is built.

Border leaders questioned that commitment after they saw a government map. It outlines a plan for 153 miles of fence separating Texas and Mexico.

The secrecy surrounding the map has some border residents convinced they really do not have a say.

The topic over breakfast at the Oasis Café is as hot as the handmade tortillas in this tiny border town.

“It won’t deter the people who want to come illegally, and it will just annoy the people on this side,” Presidio County resident Madelyn Farmer said.

This side is Presidio, Texas, where residents balk at the federal government’s plan to build a border fence.

“I think it’s a waste of money that’s all it is,” resident Ruben Brito said.

Opposition grew louder after locals learned presidio is on a map the Department of Homeland Security wanted to keep secret.

It shows the federal government’s plan for 370 miles of border fencing — mostly in Texas.

Texas farmers and others along the border say the federal government assured them their concerns would be taken into account.

Fences are just not popular in this part of West Texas. Here, even the cattle roam free.

It’s not that people don’t care about illegal immigration or border security. It’s just that locals say that a fence is not a practical solution.

“It’s economic,” farmer Terry Bishop said. ”We have to have access to the river.”

The Rio Grande River is a major source of water for crops in this region. In Texas much of the borderland is private — not public — property.

The Bishop family even bought part of the Rio Grande when the U.S. government re-directed the curving river to prevent flooding in the 1970s.

The family owns the largest farm in the area: 2,000 acres.

And father and son have a good relationship with the border patrol agents who crisscross their property.

But nobody from Homeland Security has said a word about the border fence plan.

“You’re the first person to come down and communicate with me about this fence,” Bishop said.

And in a region where fences are few and people are independent residents here see the map as proof that the plan for a border fence is quickly moving forward.

“We never really thought it would come to that here,” farmer Bill Bishop said.

The Department of Homeland Security said the map is just a starting point for discussions with border communities and is not a final plan. The map was sent to a few property owners in South Texas asking them not to make it public.