Thread: Texas suit : Stop work on border fence

Texas suit: Stop work on border fence
By Suzanne Gamboa
The Associated Press
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.17.2008
advertisementWASHINGTON — Texas mayors and business leaders filed a class-action lawsuit Friday alleging Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff hoodwinked landowners into waiving their property rights for construction of a fence along the Mexican border.
Members of the Texas Border Coalition said Chertoff did not fairly negotiate compensation with landowners for access to their land for six-month surveys to choose fence sites. The coalition is seeking an injunction to block work on the fence.
They also want a federal judge to rescind all the agreements with landowners and to order Chertoff to start again.
The department has sought and won access from hundreds of landowners to determine where to build the fence and other barriers to illegal border crossings.
The coalition's attorney, Peter Schey, said Chertoff violated a 1996 immigration law that requires fair negotiation with landowners.
The lawsuit also names Robert Janson, director of Asset Management at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as a defendant.
It was filed with U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, a Bush nominee who presided in the criminal case of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff.
"They hoodwinked property owners" into waiving their property rights, Schey said.
"This whole thing has been built on a foundation of lawlessness," he said.
Landowners were visited by officials from Homeland Security, Army Corps of Engineers and Customs and Border Patrol.
But the government didn't send anyone to advise the owners' of their property rights, Schey said. Some landowners accepted offers of $100 for access to their land.
The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly denied allegations of unfair negotiations, saying it has bent over backward to work with landowners.
The agency wants to build about 353 miles of fence by year's end to bring total fencing, walls and barriers to about 670 miles.
"This is just a delay tactic. I can't imagine this has any merit," said Homeland Security spokeswoman Laura Keehner, who had not yet seen the lawsuit.
"We've nearly bent over backward to work with landowners. Accusations to the contrary are either ill-informed or just plain wrong," Keehner told Cox News Service.
The lawsuit also alleges:
â—

"We will not sit idly by while our property is seized by the federal government

We have a Primary Election, here in CA, on June 3rd. I received a large "voter information guide" just on Eminent Domain. It immediately raised a red flag, in my mind, because of what's going on in Texas, and I think Ok, and possibly elsewhere in the country. Why is it, they want changes to existing Eminent Domain laws ? Are they laying the foundation for future expansion of our highways and freeways ? You have to be a lawyer to figure out the pros and cons.