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 |  Subject: Border Mayors Sue DHS Over Fence  Thu May 15, 2008 10:04 am | |
| A group of Texas border mayors and business leaders says the federal government did not properly negotiate with landowners or inform them of their rights when surveying property for the U.S.-Mexico border fence.
The Texas Border Coalition plans to argue in a federal lawsuit that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff abused private property rights of property owners. Coalition spokeswoman Julie Hillrichs said the lawsuit will be filed Friday in Washington.
"Despite attempts to try to negotiate with DHS and Customs and Border Patrol, they refused to do so," Hillrichs said. "We don't want to file this suit, but this was the last resort."
The Department of Homeland Security denies those accusations, saying it has worked with landowners while planning to begin building in Texas this summer. The agency wants to build 670 miles of fence along the border by year's end.
"We've nearly bent over backward to work with landowners," DHS spokeswoman Laura Keehner said. "Accusations to the contrary are either ill-informed or just plain wrong,"
She said the agency has contacted more than 600 landowners, held dozens of town hall meetings and participated in local environmental meetings. It's also sent letters to landowners and gone door-to-door to ask for access to make "operational and environmental assessments" before making decisions.
Last month, Chertoff used power given him by Congress to waive three dozen laws that could have slowed or stopped construction, including environmental laws. The agency has yet to release a final environmental impact statement for construction in South Texas.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has raised concerns about plans to combine flood levees with the border fence because it will split critical habitat of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster, chairman of the border coalition, said the group does not oppose border barriers but wants them done methodically, following eminent domain guidelines.
First, he said, DHS should be clearing the Rio Grande of salt cedar and carrizo cane that obscure Border Patrol agents' views.
"We have drive-by condemnation," Foster said, adding that DHS is paying $100 to landowners for access whether for 2 acres or 230.
Hillrichs said the coalition will allege in its lawsuit that the government failed to negotiate a price for survey sites before suing landowners for access. The agency sent letters to landowners but did not inform them of their rights to negotiate, she said.
Some landowners already have accepted payments from the government for use of their land for the fence, or agreed to allow them to survey the land as a possible site. To build some of the fence on a 120-acre strip of land on one Brownsville resident's property, the federal government offered $4,000.
But others property owners have resisted.
A federal judge refused to block the government's condemnation case against Eloisa Tamez, whose land in El Calaboz would be split by the fence. Surveyors have since visited her land. Her attorney also argued that the government had failed to properly consult with her.
Tamez has filed a countersuit against DHS. The Texas Border Coalition joined the suit, which is pending.
For some property owners, the issue is not money but the fact that the border barriers will affect property that has been in their families for generations.
President Bush signed the 2006 law that required the construction of the 700-mile border fence. Last year, Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, amended the law to tie some of the funding for the fence to a requirement that DHS consult with local residents.
"Secretary Chertoff's response to this law has been to willfully ignore the concerns of many people in the border communities and continue planning the fence-building from his office in Washington without doing the necessary and mandatory consultation," Rodriguez said in a statement.
http://cbs11tv.com/local/border.fence.Texas.2.724140.html
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