Thread: MEN SUE BORDER PATROL OVER LAND

My apologies if this has already been posted.

Men sue Border Patrol over land
GOVERNMENT USE BLOCKS RACETRACK
By Richard Marosi
Los Angeles Times

Article Launched: 01/03/2008 01:38:53 AM PST
SAN DIEGO - Developer David Wick says he had big plans for thousands of acres of vacant property near the border - until illegal immigrants discovered that his land was one of the easiest places to cross illegally into San Diego.
"Welcome to America," said Wick, standing next to the rusting fence that separates his land from Tijuana, Mexico. "This is the gate. It's on my property."
Wick wanted to build a racetrack. The U.S. Border Patrol got in his way, he said, by taking over more and more of his property in its efforts to crack down on crossers.
Wick and his real-estate partner, Roque De La Fuente, have sued the federal government, saying the agency's strategy has been to funnel illegal immigration into his area, the open terrain of eastern San Diego, where it's easier to capture border crossers.
The lawsuit, and the government's denial of its premise, reflect the growing friction between property owners and border authorities in the midst of fencing projects and shifts in enforcement tactics.
In Texas, some homeowners and ranchers have balked at allowing surveyors to map their land so it could, perhaps, be fenced. In Arizona, environmental groups have gone to court to prevent the government from erecting fencing in an ecologically sensitive river valley.
For the San Diego developers, the issue boils down to a financial calculation. Wick said he stands behind the Border Patrol's mission to secure America's border, but if the government is using his land - and preventing him from developing it - he expects to be paid.
"If they need to use our property to do their jobs, that's fine. But compensate us for it," Wick said.
The 1,050 acres owned by Wick and De La Fuente are at the eastern edge of the 14-mile border between San Diego and Tijuana, once the most heavily transited immigrant corridor in the country.
By 2001, the federal government had erected double fencing along much of the Tijuana-San Diego frontier, except in the canyons near the ocean and in the foothills of Otay Mountain, where Wick planned to build his racetrack.
The property is a favored crossing point because immigrants can easily scale the 8-foot border fence, the only barrier. They make their way through the hills to roads where smugglers pick them up and quickly drive them to urban areas.
The Border Patrol's presence on the property is hard to miss. Agents zip by in SUVs and all-terrain vehicles. Numerous motion sensors have been planted in the dirt. Portable light towers dot the landscape.
Federal law permits Border Patrol agents to access private property within 25 miles of the border, and government attorneys point out in court documents that immigrants have been crossing in the area since the agency's creation in 1924. That's long before the current owners purchased the land.
Agents regularly deal with property owners, frequently making arrangements to pave roads on private property. Wick acknowledges that he has given agents permission to use his property, but he said his feelings about their presence changed a few years ago when activity increased in the area.
Agents built a holding facility on his land. Detention buses crisscrossed the property and agents sped all over the acreage, rushing from one incident to another. It got so bad, said Wick, that agents ordered him off his own property, saying the land was owned by the government.
Because of the Border Patrol's strategy, Wick has been unable to develop or lease the property.
The federal government has essentially occupied the land, so the property owners should be compensated as required by Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, said his attorney, Roger J. Marzulla. The amendment bars the taking of private property for public use without just compensation.
"Nobody can develop a piece of property that is crawling with aliens at night and Border Patrol vehicles and personnel 24 hours a day," Marzulla said.
Wick has come up with his own solution to the problem. For years, the Border Patrol has planned a secondary fence in his area, but budget constraints, among other things, have slowed the process.
If a second fence were erected, he said, it would stem the flow of immigrants and allow him and his partner to realize their development goals.
"We want them to finish the fence, to make it someone else's problem," Wick said.

If I had land down on the border, I would donate whatever they needed to build the fence. Surely, a race track could afford to donate the back of their land to ensure America's safety.

It sounds like he has 'donated' it, already.

Just my opinion, but I'm thinking people on the border may be feeling that they are being asked to sacrifice a lot when the federal government is doing very little on the interior.

If our government wanted to stop illegal immigration, they could do it. Just a speech from the President would clear out millions within weeks. Just being told, forcefully, by our government that laws will be enforced, would have a very sobering effect.

Instead, we get all manner of small raids - 2 and 20, when raids would not be necessary if the illegals knew our government was serious about the matter.

The man in the story, may be thinking, things are not going to get any better, and he would like to recoup his loss.

"If our government wanted to stop illegal immigration, they could do it. Just a speech from the President would clear out millions within weeks. Just being told, forcefully, by our government that laws will be enforced, would have a very sobering effect. "

This is very true.

This has the way it's been for some time:

The Bill of Rights: Eminent Domain
by Jacob G. Hornberger, Posted April 6, 2005

http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0412a.asp

"One of the bedrocks of a free society is a system of private property. The concept of economic liberty is founded not only on principles of free enterprise but also on the principle that people have the right to accumulate the fruits of their earnings. If government has the power to arbitrarily seize a person’s wealth or property, then a person cannot truly be considered free in an economic sense. That is why our ancestors deemed it critically important to protect people’s property from governmental assault through their enactment of the Fifth Amendment, which reads in part as follows:

No person shall be . . . deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Notice that there are two pertinent “takingsâ€

Yes, I think the government should be able to use the land to protect the public.

That wasn't the point of the story, unless I read it wrong. The man simply wants compensation for it.

I understand the man's thinking. Surely, he would rather this country were clear of illegals and people in this country were free to work, live and conduct business without the invasion of foreigners. Since it is pretty apparent that isn't going to happen - he wants to be paid.