"It's really a new ballgame at this point," attorney Peter Schey with the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles, told the Austin American-Statesman. "We think that means having serious consultation with private landowners, (American Indian) tribes, land-grant descendants and private property owners."

Language in the U.S. Congress's omnibus spending bill in December mandates public consultation on the fence and allows alternatives, Shey told the paper.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said they're committed to building 670 miles of fencing along the Mexican border by year's end, the paper said.