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Quote:

Trump’s Wall Faces a Barrier in Texas: Landowner Lawsuits

LOS EBANOS, Tex. — One of the principal barriers to President Trump’s border wall begins in Aleida Garcia’s expansive backyard.

She and her husband have built a small park alongside some scrubland on their 30 acres, and they enjoy a panoramic view of the Rio Grande Valley. They say they will fiercely resist any effort by the federal government to take over their property, the continuation of a fight that began a decade ago.


And they are not alone. More than 90 lawsuits involving landowners opposing the federal seizure of their property in South Texas remain open from 2008. The property owners have the support of many Texas politicians in a state where land ownership has an almost mythic resonance, and their opposition to a border wall could delay any construction by years while lawsuits wind through the court system.

Mr. Trump and John F. Kelly, the Homeland Security secretary, have said they can build a wall in 24 months, even though Congress did not include any funding for construction in its latest spending bill. Fresh legal challenges, along with the existing ones, make that timetable highly unlikely.

The landowners’ strategy is clear: Use the courts to forestall construction and try to outlast the tenure of Mr. Trump.

Indeed, those closest to the perceived dangers of illegal immigration are providing perhaps the most formidable opposition to the president’s plans. They are well aware that their land has become a major point of transit for drug traffickers and smugglers, and some have been victims of crime. But they also believe that the border is already heavily patrolled, by drones, federal agents and the local authorities, and contend that a wall would have mainly a symbolic value at the cost of their land.

While Mr. Trump made a border wall central to his presidential campaign, the concept is not new. In 2006, at the urging of Congress, President George W. Bush signed the Secure Fence Act, which mandated building physical structures to stop illegal crossings by people and vehicles. Nearly 700 miles of wall and fencing was ultimately built, mainly on federal land in California and Arizona.

But the government has taken very little land in Texas, which has 1,254 miles of the border with Mexico, most of it privately owned.

“Here in Texas, we take the concept of private property very seriously,” said Representative Henry Cuellar, a Democrat whose district includes nearly 300 miles of the border with Mexico. “We take pride in our land, which has often been passed down for generations. And Texans stand up for ourselves when the federal government tries to take what is ours.”

Ms. Garcia’s case shows how difficult seizing private land can be. Nearly a decade ago, officials from the Department of Homeland Security tried to take parts of her land in order to build a border wall. Ms. Garcia fought back in court, and this year the government decided that it didn’t need her property after all.

But now, she thinks, Mr. Trump’s plans could again imperil her land. “We’re just waiting and watching as they start talking again about building a wall,” she said.

More at the source NYT

all those headlines about the failed experiment that was America seem to be coming true

quite a shame but maybe not a surprise

There are 47 independent and quite different countries in Europe ...

You re flat out wrong. The science is clear
. Global warming is real. Humans are doingg iiit.

You re flat out wrong. The science is clear
. Global warming is real. Humans are doingg iiit.