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Construction of Texas Border Wall Stalls Over Fights With Landowners
The Wall Street Journal ^ | December 12, 2019 | Elizabeth Findell

Posted on 12/16/2019 5:15:01 PM PST by re_tail20

Nearly three years into the Trump administration, almost no border wall has been built in Texas. Local property owners ranging from ranchers to a Catholic diocese and institutions have resisted federal efforts to claim their land.

The resistance in South Texas, where most land is privately owned, illustrates the challenges in building a border wall, even if funding is available.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been sending letters and holding meetings for two months asking about 120 landowners with riverfront property around Laredo, to survey their land, the first step in building a wall on it. Some around the South Texas city, where many can see the Rio Grande and Mexico from their porches, said yes right away. But others are resisting, setting up a potential conflict with the government that could drag on for years.

About 200 miles southeast, in the Rio Grande Valley, refusals have led the government to sue 46 landowners for the right to survey their property in preparation for acquiring part of it, including farmers, ranchers, businesses, and several facilities owned by a Catholic diocese.

Some cite ideological reasons for resisting a wall on their land. Others say it will split their properties in two and interfere with their businesses or way of life. Ease of accessing property on the other side of a wall would depend on where the government builds access gates.

Building a permanent barrier along the nearly 2,000 miles of the southern border was a signature promise of President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. He and his supporters believe a wall would help to reduce illegal immigration.

In the three years since, the government has built 80 miles of border wall, according to CBP, most of which has replaced existing fencing in California. In the Rio Grande Valley, the government has...

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Government; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: border; texas; texasborder; wall
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1 posted on 12/16/2019 5:15:01 PM PST by re_tail20
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To: re_tail20

Three years into Trump administration, virtually no new wall has been built as farmers, ranchers and a Catholic diocese resist federal efforts to claim their land


2 posted on 12/16/2019 5:15:23 PM PST by re_tail20
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To: re_tail20

Build the Damn Wall Around their Property and they can become Mexico.


3 posted on 12/16/2019 5:19:16 PM PST by eyeamok
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To: re_tail20

Border Security for Dummies
Spencer spells it out
Glenn Spencer -- American Border Patrol -- April 20

A couple of days ago I laid out a simple plan for securing the border. It turns out it was too simple because some didn't understand it. One even said that the Sonic Barrier couldn't be installed on Indian Reservation land. This is not true. In fact, the federal government has already constructed vehicle barriers on the border adjacent to Indian Reservations (see map).

Moreover the Roosevelt Easement allows the federal government access to 60 of the border with Mexico. This is from a GAO report: "The land where this fencing was built has been publicly owned since 1907 when President Theodore Roosevelt reserved a 60-foot strip along the international boundary with Mexico for the United States to maintain the area free from obstructions as a protection against the smuggling of goods between the United States and Mexico. In effect, the Roosevelt easement provided the federal government with a 60-foot border right-of-way on which it could build the fence."

The federal government has the power to construct a fence along the border to protect the United States. In fact, in 2008 DHS Secretary Chertoff issued a waiver "to bypass environmental reviews to speed construction of fencing along the Mexican border." (NY Times)

To avoid any further misunderstanding about my border security proposals, I have fleshed them out a little more. See "How Border Security Can Work." Please read it carefully.

4 posted on 12/16/2019 5:19:16 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Democrats only believe in democracy when they win the election.)
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To: re_tail20

So?

Move the border north of these bozos and essentially make them part of Mexico.

Or invade Mexico and grab a 10 mile strip south of the River.

Kinda easy, choose who gets the river.


5 posted on 12/16/2019 5:20:57 PM PST by Paladin2 (uivalent amount on ammo for same.)
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To: re_tail20
Some ranchers want illegals running loose on their properties? I'm from Texas, but I think that is a very strange attitude. Who are these "ranchers"?
6 posted on 12/16/2019 5:26:00 PM PST by jeffc (The U.S. media are our enemy)
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To: re_tail20

Evict them. The first 100 feet or yards was supposed to be public.


7 posted on 12/16/2019 5:26:20 PM PST by Reno89519 (No Amnesty! No Catch-and-Release! Just Say No to All Illegal Aliens! Arrest & Deport!)
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To: re_tail20

That is the problem, too much talk and no action. I think at times there is more political gain from talk than action. Seize the land or build the wall such that they are on the Mexican side with no gates nearby. Arrest the owners if they welcome Mexicans on their lands,


8 posted on 12/16/2019 5:28:19 PM PST by Reno89519 (No Amnesty! No Catch-and-Release! Just Say No to All Illegal Aliens! Arrest & Deport!)
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To: jeffc

The border issues with Mexico issues are not for wussies.

Past time to chose.


9 posted on 12/16/2019 5:28:25 PM PST by Paladin2 (uivalent amount on ammo for same.)
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To: re_tail20

The magic words here are “ riverfront property”-simply translated, waterfront property-any waterfront property- just about anywhere means a big dollar value-those owners are afraid the government won’t give them the overinflated price they will want for it...


10 posted on 12/16/2019 5:28:36 PM PST by Texan5 ("You've got to saddle up your boys-you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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To: Paladin2

What about a wall of wind turbines. Would they go for that?


11 posted on 12/16/2019 5:28:54 PM PST by cnsmom
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To: re_tail20

As I understand it the process is going forward. The folks who are balking at this can hash it out in the years to come. In the meantime, eminent domain will proceed, as always.


12 posted on 12/16/2019 5:29:55 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (BLACK LIVES MAGA)
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To: re_tail20

More than a few landowners along the border are well paid by the cartels to simply “not look out the front window”, and to deny the Border Patrol access. The Border Patrol has the right to enter whenever they please, but the landowner can insist that it only be on foot. No 4x4s, no horses, no Jeeps, no pickups. Some of those ranches are huge and impossible to patrol on foot alone.


13 posted on 12/16/2019 5:30:36 PM PST by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ....)
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To: re_tail20

A border wall is a military fortification. Seize the land.


14 posted on 12/16/2019 5:30:44 PM PST by captain_dave
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To: cnsmom

From what I’ve seen, Wind Turbines don’t get low enough to chop land crossers.

Bats and Birds? Quite efficient...


15 posted on 12/16/2019 5:31:23 PM PST by Paladin2 (uivalent amount on ammo for same.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

In 1907, Theodore Roosevelt in a Presidential Proclamation (35 Stat. 2136) established the reservation in order to keep all public lands along the border in California, Arizona, and New Mexico “free from obstruction as a protection against the smuggling of goods between the United States and Mexico”.[2][3][4] Texas was excluded because Texas retained all public lands upon the Texas annexation and admittance as a state, much of which has been sold over the years to private parties.[5][6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roosevelt_Reservation


16 posted on 12/16/2019 5:36:07 PM PST by deport
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To: re_tail20
Every Monday, Carla Provost, Chief of the US Border Patrol, reports (on Twitter) on the progress of the Border Wall (as of the prior Friday at close of business). We are running somewhere over two new miles per week.

Today (16 Dec 2019), she posts:


17 posted on 12/16/2019 5:39:37 PM PST by BeauBo
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To: re_tail20

100 yards south of the river works for me.


18 posted on 12/16/2019 5:44:44 PM PST by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: Texan5

Starting price for waterfront property is 1500.00 per FOOT...... Just as a point of reference


19 posted on 12/16/2019 5:49:54 PM PST by joe fonebone (Communists Need To Be Eliminated)
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To: Jeff Chandler; All; re_tail20

“In the meantime, eminent domain will proceed, as always.”

I’ve been here long enough to remember when many, MANY Freepers were having KITTENS over (Citizen) Donald Trump using Eminent Domain to move people out of their homes/neighborhoods to build a Casino. I think it was in New Jersey? There was one elderly woman that was holding out, and did for quite a number of years?

Enlighten me. Not being a smart @zz, I just seem to remember that according to Conservatives that Eminent Domain was a bad, BAD thing?


20 posted on 12/16/2019 5:57:32 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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