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Biden is still seizing private land for the border wall even though nothing is being built
President Joe Biden on day one of his presidency put an end to construction of former President Donald Trump's border wall. But three months later, Biden's government is still seizing private land for wall construction, even though no wall is being built.
This week, the federal government seized six acres of land from a family in Hidalgo County, Texas, after a federal judge confirmed the government's right to take the land in an eminent domain case that began when Trump was president. The land belonged to Baudilia Cavazos and her family, who have been fighting in court since 2018 to stop the government from taking it.
"We are utterly devastated," Baudilia Cavazos told Reason Magazine after the judge's decision. "We thought President Joe Biden would protect us. Now we've lost our land. We don't even know what comes next."
President Trump constructed more than 400 miles of border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, at times using eminent domain authority to seize private land for wall construction. Eminent domain is a power that allows the government to acquire private property for public use.
President Trump's administration wanted to use eminent domain to seize approximately seven acres of Cavazos land, constructing the wall in the middle of it and dividing it between the U.S. and Mexico sides. The family's home would have been on the U.S. side of the border, but several rental properties they own would have been inaccessible on the Mexican side, which the family says would result in a major loss of income.
Though Biden paused construction of the wall pending a federal review of the legality of its funding, his administration never withdrew the case against the Cavazos family. Their case was one of nearly 140 eminent domain cases that remain active along the southern border, Politico reported.
On the campaign trail, Biden promised to end these eminent domain cases, telling NPR in August 2020, "End. Stop. Done. Over. Not going to do it. Withdraw the lawsuits. We're out. We're not going to confiscate the land."
But so far, his administration hasn't kept its promise. The Department of Justice told Politico that it is seeking to delay the pending eminent domain cases until Biden's review of the wall project is completed.
The families that own the land, and progressive activists who believed Biden would enact a full reversal of Trump's immigration and border policies, feel betrayed.
"Yesterday, we witnessed a betrayal of the Biden Administration's commitment to end construction of the border wall," Ricky Garza, an attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project, said in a statement. "In federal court, the President's pause on border wall construction is meaningless without immediate action from the DOJ to dismiss these cases."
Calif. may return beachfront land taken from black family in eminent domain seizure 100 years ago
Los Angeles County is considering whether to compensate a black family who had beachfront property seized by the local government nearly a century ago.
What are the details?
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said she is weighing options to compensate the family of Willa and Charles Bruce, who were among the city's first black landowners, the Hill reported.
In 1924, the city of Manhattan Beach forced the Bruce family from its beachfront land through eminent domain under the pretense of creating a city park.
The Bruces and their family lived at the Manhattan Beach location and operated a resort for black Americans during a time when beaches were segregated by race. At the time, the family purchased the land for less than $2,000 — land that could now be worth up to $75 million.
KABC-TV reported that the county is now looking at options to compensate the Bruce family's descendants.
Los Angeles County owns the the property, where its lifeguard headquarters and training center is currently located.
Hahn told the station, "I'm considering, first of all, giving the property back to the Bruce family. I think that would be the one act that would really be justice for that family. I wanted the County of Los Angeles to be a part of righting this terrible wrong."
She added, "We are now in this country finally meeting this moment. And there are a lot of talks about reparations, financial restitutions being made to African Americans in this country."
What else?
Anthony Bruce, one of the family's last living descendants, added, "It was a wrong against the Bruce family. I think we would be wealthy Americans still living there in California. ... Manhattan Beach, probably."
The Hill reported, "Hahn says the county is also considering paying reparations or leasing the property from the family so the lifeguard center can stay at the location."
"The Manhattan Beach city task force is also recommending the city council issue a formal apology and create a commemorative plaque to acknowledge the Bruce family," the report adds.
Kavon Ward, a local Manhattan Beach resident, has been active in trying to raise awareness of the Bruce family's issue.
"They need to pay for the stripping of generational wealth," Ward said. "This family could have been wealthy, they could have passed on wealth to other family members. Manhattan Beach could have been more culturally diverse. ... There would have been more black people here."
Ward added, "This task force and members of Manhattan Beach are living in this sort of bubble of white supremacy and white fragility and I feel like it's time to penetrate that bubble. It's time for this bubble to be popped."
Church fights Texas city's eminent domain push to take land for new fire station. Fun fact: There's already a fire station across the street.
While Canaan Baptist Church is located in south Dallas, the small congregation has had a ministry in nearby Duncanville for the last 15 years, KTVT-TV reported.
"We do food drives, clothing drives, church activities," Angie Baker, wife of Canaan Baptist's pastor, told the station. "We feel like this community is underserved."
Thing is, there's no church building for Canaan Baptist in Duncanville — but it does have land there, KTVT said.
"This is an empty lot that God gave us," Baker told the station.
In fact, Canaan Baptist has been raising money to get a new facility built on the property, the station said.
The problem
The goal sounds simple enough — but the city of Duncanville is complicating it.
See, Duncanville has designs on the property and is trying to seize it using eminent domain to build a new fire station, KTVT reported.
As you might expect, Canaan Baptist doesn't like the idea one bit.
"We have put so much into it, and we just don't want to lose it to the city," Baker noted to the station.
So attorneys for the church filed a motion this week to halt the land seizure, arguing for protections under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, KTVT reported.
"In this particular case, it would require the city to prove that this property is the only property that they can use for their purposes, and it's going to be very difficult for them to prove that," Keisha Russell, counsel at First Liberty Institute, told the station.
And about that fire station...
What's more, there's already a fire station across the street from the church's plot of land the city wants to take, KTVT reported.
"We just want the city to find another piece of property and build somewhere else, because we love the property that we've invested in," Baker told the station.
The city of Duncanville told KTVT that the city attorney has received the church's motion to dismiss and will file a response with the court at the appropriate time.
(H/T: Hot Air)
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