The Trump administration is planning to put up hundreds of miles of border wall blocking off Mexico in coming months, but there’s a problem — they do not currently possess the vast majority of the land for that wall. At least some Texans who the Trump administration wants to simply hand over access to their land are instead fighting back and planning to try and stop the Trump administration from seizing their property. The president’s allies want
“unfettered access” for a year or more to conduct surveys and possible eventual construction.
One local, Afghanistan veteran Salvador Castillo, explained that he’d moved out to his present home about half of a mile away from the Rio Grande River in a bid to escape the mayhem of life closer to the city, which wore him out thanks to the “emotional scars” of his military service. Apparently, the Trump administration couldn’t care less.
Castillo explained:
‘We were astonished… We were like, ‘Hell no!’ We don’t like this. It’s very intrusive… this is what a certain majority of Americans wanted… It’s easy for them to judge. It’s not their backyard.’
His wife Yvette Arroyo, who works as a local teacher, added:
‘I stopped answering the door. Going to battle against the federal government is not something we will win. But we are not going to take this lying down.’
About a year ago, the feds first began seeking formal permission from Castillo’s family — which includes his wife and children — to survey their land, and now, the Trump administration has launched lawsuits against them and others who have also resisted the Trump administration’s racist wall construction efforts. The administration’s push has also included apparently numerous home visits by lawyers and personnel from Border Patrol and the Army.
The Washington Post notes that just this past week, U.S. attorneys “began filing initial petitions in court while making cash offers to property owners” — and those offers don’t exactly seem poised to be as fair as actually possible. One recent court filing is a land condemnation meant as a cover for the government to seize the land in question for the wall. Overall, there are “years-long court battles over private land rights, family homes and what the Trump administration deems a national security issue” slated to soon ensue, The Post notes. Apparently, there are even churches on the land that the Trump administration wants to take.
This year, federal authorities have already filed “more than twice as many” lawsuits aiming for control of border land than they filed the year before, pointing to just how muddled that the process really is quickly becoming.
Civil rights attorney Ricky Garza commented:
‘These cases are just the tip of the iceberg. We don’t know how many others are prepared to fight back.’
Even past Trump supporters in the area have spoken out against the process.
Recently, the president placed his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner in charge of getting the border wall constructed, but Kushner doesn’t exactly have a successful background. His family business sunk large amounts of money into a struggling NYC building, and while in the White House, he’s been known for failing to bring any kind of systematic change to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, engaging in clandestine communications with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and other gaffes. So, the wall isn’t exactly poised for smooth sailing going forward.
