After President Donald Trump declared a national emergency recently to access billions of dollars in funding, landowners in Texas fear a land grab, and the private property debate in Texas will soon become an important issue in the 2020 election, and could impact Trump’s vote in the Lone Star State.
The Rio Grande Valley, in South Texas, will become the battleground for a border wall as heavy machinery is being transported into the wooded areas to be cleared. Residents have received requests from the federal government to survey their property for possible seizure.
In response to the National Emergencies Act being invoked by Trump, an advocacy group called Public Citizen filed suit on behalf of landowners in Texas.
Public Citizen maintains that Trump has exceeded his authority under the federal National Emergencies Act because there is no crisis at the border, and Congress has already declined to appropriate the money.
Moreover, Gary Jacobs, a former chief executive officer of Laredo National Bank, spoke to Bloomberg about a possible backlash from Texan landowners who have mainly been Trump supporters. Texas defeated Hillary Clinton by a 9 percent margin in the 2016 presidential election.
“The way the eminent domain laws are written, we have no rights,” warns Jacobs. “That’s the issue. It’s not what they’re going to build. It’s how they’re taking the land.”
US property seizure laws were established in the 1800s and these laws may soon leave Texan landowners with limited options to fight back.
Their chances of success are will greatly improve however, if land owners stand together. Some 20 eminent domain filings relating to the border wall, will be enough to trigger a collapse in support of Trump’s wall among the state’s Republicans says Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University in Houston.
“Just as Texas Republicans are very supportive of having a strong level of border security, they also are very supportive of property rights,” he said.
