Administration

Texas property owners getting notices from Trump admin about surveying land for border wall: report

South Texas property owners living along the U.S.–Mexico border have reportedly been getting notices from the federal government asking to survey their land for potential border wall construction.

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) told KENS 5 News that more than 200 requests have been made to residents in Starr and Hidalgo counties.

The mayor of Escobares said he was contacted by the Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection a few weeks ago for consent to survey his land.

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“I walk out the back door and what I’m going to see is a 30-foot fence,” Mayor Noel Escobar said.

The Rio Grande City School District got a letter in May, the outlet reported.

The school board’s president, Daniel Garcia, said the letter described a mile of land the government wants to use for “tactical infrastructure, such as a border wall.”

Garcia told the outlet that if he had known the survey was for possible border wall construction he wouldn’t have voted to approve it.

Some homeowners in the area say the government is only offering them a fraction of the land’s actual value.

One Roma resident, 81-year-old Felix Rodriguez, said a government employee offered him $300 for part of his 500-square-foot property.

Rodriquez said he is asking for at least $1,500 for the segment.

“There’s no use for me to sell the land if I’m not going to get much from it,” Rodriquez told the news outlet in Spanish.

A border wall has been a long-standing promise from President Trump since the beginning of his campaign.

However, recent polling suggests that a majority of Americans don’t support the construction of additional barriers along the U.S.–Mexico border. According to a Gallup poll from last month, 57 percent of Americans said they do not support additional border wall construction.

Tags Border wall Donald Trump Henry Cuellar Illegal immigration Texas Texas US-Mexico Border

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