As President Donald Trump’s second administration rushes to wall off the Texas border, landowners along the Rio Grande are being pushed to let construction begin on their property before the federal government purchases or condemns it.
Owners of real estate on the border are receiving letters from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) offering a signing bonus of up to $5,000 to let government contractors survey their property and begin wall construction. In copies of the letters obtained by the Texas Observer, CBP promises to negotiate with landowners to purchase their real estate at a later date. They include a warning that if property owners don’t agree to the signing bonus or quickly sell, the government will file a lawsuit to condemn their property.
It’s a new tactic. Past administrations, including Trump’s first, simply sought to survey land as the initial step, according to documents reviewed by the Observer and multiple attorneys, with the government taking landowners to court who refused access. Property owners often received only $100 at this step. Negotiations over and possible condemnation of the land itself, using eminent domain, would come later and take place before construction began. In property condemnation proceedings, construction may still begin partway through the process thanks to the feds’ “quick take” power, but a court ultimately decides appropriate compensation.
