For Sale: 1 Mile Of U.S.-Mexico Border Wall
Sep 17, 2018, 12:30pm
For Sale: 1 Mile Of U.S.-Mexico Border Wall
Ellen Barber Contributor i
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A sign near Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Part of the federal government's border wall stands on state trust land near Santa Teresa. (SEBASTIEN VUAGNAT/AFP/Getty Images)
A seven-acre strip of land along the U.S. border with Mexico has been the subject of a months-long dispute between New Mexico’s top land manager and the federal government. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has maintained a mile-long section of its border wall there for years but has never paid for its use of the land, which belongs to the state’s land trust.
Right-of-way fees and other revenues generated from state trust land are used to support New Mexico’s public schools and hospitals.
The State Land Office estimates it is owed roughly $30,000 in easement and right-of-way fees—for this parcel and another disputed stretch of border land where the federal government is using a road and has installed lights.
According to a survey by the Bureau of Land Management and other records, the federal government never obtained permission from the state to build the wall on this parcel or to use the roads in the area.
Now Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn has decided to sell the land—including the mile of border wall—to the highest bidder.
The Dispute
In February, Dunn notified federal officials by letter that they were using the land illegally and that they needed to purchase the property or stay off it.
In March, when the government had not responded to his concerns, Dunn posted signs on the property to block access to border patrol operations along that stretch. “I’m shutting down the federal government just as I would shut down any business trespassing on state trust lands,” Dunn told the Associated Press at the time.
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New Mexico Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn installing a sign along the U.S.-Mexico border near Santa Teresa, New Mexico, on March 6, 2018. (Kris McNeil/New Mexico State Land Office via AP)
Later that month, Customs and Border Protection informed Dunn by letter that the agency was gathering records in preparation for a meeting with him. The letter also said, “An important part of CBP’s strategy to successfully secure the nation’s borders includes developing and leveraging partnerships and dialogue with state and local stakeholders to ensure that the unique operational needs of each region are effectively met.”
In August, Dunn offered to lease the seven-acre parcel to the federal government for 35 years for $20,000, with all the money to go to New Mexico public schools.
Customs and Border Protection responded with an offer to buy the land instead for $9,000.
Dunn said he could not accept that amount and called the government’s appraisal “very low.”
So Dunn has decided to auction off the land, including the wall and the road. The minimum bid is $40,000.
“My concern is to get it out of the state trust purview, so that state trust lands aren’t involved in it,” he told KRQE news.
State Trust Land Is Not Public Land
Administered by the State Land Office, state trust lands “are not public lands, but are instead the subject of a public trust created to support the education of New Mexico’s children.”
The Land Office manages millions of acres throughout New Mexico for the schools, universities, hospitals and other public institutions that are the beneficiaries of the state land trust. With revenues from a wide array of land uses—including oil and gas leases, mining, grazing, rights of way and various commercial activities—the Land Office “generates hundreds of millions of dollars each year to support these beneficiaries while saving the average household about $800 in taxes,” according to its website.
The parcel in question is part of a tract between Santa Teresa, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, that was granted by Congress to the then-territory of New Mexico under the Ferguson Act of 1898. In 1907, a presidential proclamation created a “buffer zone” in which the federal government had the authority to patrol along the country’s southern border, but the disputed seven-acre parcel was never included in that zone, New Mexico officials have told the Associated Press.
Border Wall For Sale
The border wall parcel will be sold at a live public auction on December 3, 2018, in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
The parcel consists of approximately 7.28 acres in Doña Ana County and is described as a strip of land 60 feet wide bordering on and parallel to the Mexico boundary line.
Potential bidders must submit an application and a deposit check by November 28.
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