BROWNSVILLE — Although President Joe Biden earlier this year suspended the construction of the border wall so his administration could review the project, this has not stopped the federal government from now attempting to seize property to build border barriers.
The federal government on Nov. 10 filed a lawsuit for 39.287 acres of land or more that is located in Cameron County and owned by Sparks Family Partnership LTD., federal court documents reflect. The government is attempting to seize the property under “eminent domain.”
Thirteen other defendants are also named in the lawsuit. The case will be heard before U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Southern District of Texas, states: “The public purpose for which said property is taken is to construct, install, operate, and maintain roads, fencing, vehicle barriers, security lighting, cameras, sensors, and related structures designed to help secure the United States/Mexico border within the State of Texas.”
According to court documents, the land the federal government plans to seize includes tracts RGV-HRL-7114, 1.759 acres, RGV-HRL-7114-1, 1.464 acres, RGV-7114-2, 0.461 acres, RGV-HRL 7115, 11.527 acres and RGV-HRL-7116, 24.076 acres.
The land being sought includes existing easements for public roads and highways, public utilities, railroads and pipelines; and subject to all interests in minerals and “appurtenant rights for exploration, development, production and removal of said minerals.”
The lawsuit states the Sparks Family Partnership, LTD. will have reasonable access to and from their land lying between the Rio Grande and the border barrier through openings or gates in the border barrier.
Compensation for the land is listed in the suit as $105,794.03.
According to the lawsuit, those named in the suit have 21 days to address and respond to the lawsuit.
“A failure to serve an answer shall constitute consent to the taking and to authority of the Court to proceed to hear the action and to fix just compensation, and shall constitute a waiver of all defenses,” the document states.
As of late Friday afternoon, none of the defendants appeared to have responded to the lawsuit.
Rodriguez on Friday ordered that the United States file a status update every 90 days from the date of his Nov. 12 order, informing the court as to the status of service on the named defendants.
“Building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border and costs American taxpayers billions of dollars is not a serious policy solution or responsible use of federal funds,” the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement outlining the plan, according to an Associated Press report on June 11.
According to the AP: “The administration doesn’t explicitly say it won’t build any new wall. But it says that any new construction will be subjected to environmental review and that it will review ongoing efforts to seize land from property owners by eminent domain and will return parcels to the owners if the Department of Homeland Security determines it’s not needed.”
The government has built walls and other barriers along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border for decades to eliminate some of the easier routes of avoiding checkpoints.
