The city of Austin joins a growing list of liberal hubs denying future business with border wall contractors.
Before Thursday's 10-1 vote by council, Mayor Steve Adler said his city was in the business of "building bridges, not walls."
“The border wall is not about keeping us safe, it's a political symbol of division designed to make us scared of one another and to send a really unfortunate message,” said Adler.
“In Austin we celebrate our new direct flights to Mexico City and to Monterrey. We support growing joint innovation, including a tech incubator from Mexico. We seek to enrich our sister city relationship with Saltillo.”
Jessica Vaughan with the Center for Immigration Studies says Austin has shown the rest of Texas it would rather make a political statement than support jobs.
“The city of Austin is trying to deny Texas companies from bidding on a great infrastructure project that will create jobs and keep Texas communities much safer,” she said.
Houston-based Texas Sterling Construction Co. was among those who built the eight prototype walls.