Property Rights Battle Expected Along Trump's Border Wall

Even if the ongoing legislative impasse is broken, the federal government reopens, and President Trump is able to move forward with his promised border wall, Texas property owners along the wall aren't expected to readily give up their land for that purpose.

According to an article by Katie Zezima and Mark Berman, the federal government is already sending letters to property owners in the Rio Grande Valley, "seeking access to their properties for surveys, soil tests, equipment storage and other actions."

"It is, lawyers and experts say, the first step in the government trying to seize private property using the power of eminent domain — a contentious step that could put a lengthy legal wrinkle into President Trump’s plans to build hundreds of miles of wall," according to the article.

The Washington Post has made somewhat of a cottage industry of coverage of the potentially looming property rights battle along the border. The paper also syndicated an article by Nomaan Merchant for the Associated Press on the same subject. Opinion writer Jennifer Rubin amplifies the message from Texans: forget the wall. Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas). Is also on the record as strongly opposed to the wall.