While President Trump declared a national emergency today in order to secure funding for his border wall, his Trump administration still hasn’t acquired the land it needs to build new physical barriers along the border, even as it embarks on new construction.
The timeline for
construction for the first new 14 miles of wall — which is expected to begin in
late March — partly depends on real estate acquisitions, according to a senior
CBP official.
The start of construction
was already pushed back from February to March, according to CBP estimates.
It’s unclear what led to the delay.
How
this will work: The administration plans to target the
Rio Grande Valley, where much of the land is privately owned. Generally,
the government is allowed to acquire privately owned land if it's for public
use, otherwise known as eminent domain.
The first approximately 14
miles of steel bollard wall to be built in the region will be on a combination
of federal land and private land, which is still in the process of being
acquired, said the official.
Eminent domain cases can be
lengthy, though they generally don’t keep CBP from being able to proceed with
construction. Landowners are often fighting for what is known as just
compensation — what they deem a fair price for their property.
According to the Justice
Department, as of last month, approximately 80 cases were still outstanding.
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