Texans fight turnover
of lands to build border wall
Washington Post,
by
Arelis R. Hernández
Original Article
Posted By: StormCnter,
12/13/2019 7:42:57 AM
BROWNSVILLE, Texas -- Salvador Castillo was yearning for tranquility when he became enchanted by a one-acre homestead close -- but not too close -- to the city, a place where cows graze beneath whispering mesquite trees on the property's edge.
Castillo, an Afghanistan war veteran, and his wife bought the home using military benefits and grew their family into their new neighborhood -- about half a mile from a bend in the Rio Grande. They never imagined a border wall could dissect their property someday. But the first letter, stamped with an official government seal, arrived about a year ago. Their neighbors, the Carrascos and Trevinos, got them too.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
FunOne 12/13/2019 7:48:24 AM (No. 260733)
Washington Post--Democrat Daily Distortion Delivery Department.
24 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
MissMolly 12/13/2019 8:02:18 AM (No. 260742)
"without compensation to the owners"
Do you have a link for that, #2?
3 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
WhamDBambam 12/13/2019 8:08:03 AM (No. 260744)
Ah, such a minority (check), veteran (check) just yearning for tranquility (check) heart-string tugger, complete with whispering cows under grazing mesquite trees. Sigh. Bad, bad OrangeMan!
23 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Turninggrey 12/13/2019 8:11:38 AM (No. 260747)
OK, build the wall excluding his 1 acre, and let all the rapists, child abusers, murderers, thieves, and diseased come flowing across his 209'x209' property.
49 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
spacer 12/13/2019 8:13:14 AM (No. 260749)
Don't put any barrier on or near their precious plot of eden. The coyotes, drug runners and sex traffickers will appreciate the warm reception Sal and his neighbors will no doubt shower on them.
33 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
jalo1951 12/13/2019 8:22:01 AM (No. 260756)
I am not siding with the property owners or the government on this one. Very tough case. But when it is determined that the government will be allowed to purchase such properties I believe that for the inconvenience, stress and emotional pain of losing their property (home) they should be awarded 1 1/2 times the worth of the property.
14 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
southerngal 12/13/2019 8:24:05 AM (No. 260759)
Homestead? Cows? On one acre? I grew up on one acre and it is not big enough for cows. My Mom grew up on a REAL homestead in Tennessee and it was huge. "one-acre homestead close -- but not too close -- to the city, a place where cows graze beneath whispering mesquite trees on the property's edge."
38 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Gnana1 12/13/2019 8:45:43 AM (No. 260792)
I read the original article. I am sorry but I don't believe the owners of the property along the border should be withheld from the government in this case. The owners are due to be paid for their property annexed to build the wall. This is a move for the protection of our entire country. One thing that our people have not done well is meet the call to defend our LAND from predators....illegal immigration. Wonder what would happen if illegals or cartels killed your children....exactly what are the width, length of the property to be annexed? Come on, man....this is serious business.
18 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
smcchk 12/13/2019 8:46:09 AM (No. 260794)
How many homes were torn down for the building of our endless miles freeway system? Still had to be done.
28 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Clinger 12/13/2019 8:57:35 AM (No. 260800)
My hearing is bad enough I don't need my Bull Shiff alarm blaring like this. Of course the little darlings can find an exception or two but Texas, I have faith in you and I'd bet the vast majority are damned glad to do their part.
13 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
felixcat 12/13/2019 9:10:21 AM (No. 260809)
There are other places to live along the Rio Grande. About a year or 18 months ago, the epoch Times did a series on the Border and the issues facing CBP, locals dealing with illegal aliens passing through theri neighborhoods, yards, etc. Anyone with a lick of sense would never (in this day) but property right along the border with all the problems of the past several years/decades. Having lived down in McAllen, TX back in the early 1990s, no way would I live along the river's edge. We were on the south side of the city - no where close to the river, and we still had problems. And this was back in the 90s.
11 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Bohallx 12/13/2019 9:21:48 AM (No. 260823)
My father was informed some time in the 1950s that his property COULD be affected by the coming of Interstate 70, so be prepared.
So, he prepared for a possible taking recognizing that he would get market value or higher. And possibly even be paid for the land and allowed to take the house with him to an empty lot up the street.
10 years later I-70 came.
Missed his lot, but not the neighbors to the South.
The result was he ended up living next door to I-70 with years of very dusty construction taking place all around him.
The people objecting to the Wall could have it worse. Somebody could decide to leave them on the Mexican side of the wall and build the main barrier 1/2 mile or so inside the USA.
They'd best find out how bad it could be then act accordingly.
9 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
stablemoney 12/13/2019 9:23:42 AM (No. 260826)
I will bet that Soros is funding their objections and that these people are anti-Trumper, illegal immigration supporters, who don't care about the wall, but love their ideology. The NYTs does not say, but leftists are providing the lawyers, that is a given.
7 people like this.
Don’t put the blame on Trump, put it where it belongs, on the democrat/RINO canal and on Mexico for letting this fester for decades. Also, put a lot of blame on leftist judges for making the country provide welfare and anchor baby rights to the illegal scum.
12 people like this.
Stupid spellcheck changed “cabal “ to “canal”
2 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
ARKfamily 12/13/2019 9:45:47 AM (No. 260855)
My skepticism with this owner is coming into play. Shouldn't he expect complications and maybe some difficulty with property that borders another country?
6 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Chuzzles 12/13/2019 9:48:44 AM (No. 260859)
Sorry Texas, but the rest of the country is fed up to our epaulets with illegals. This is one of the few times where ED is justifiable in terms of national security. If those folks don't like it, too bad.
8 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
HotRod 12/13/2019 10:04:44 AM (No. 260886)
The landowner will be well compensated. He will probably have enough to buy 2 acres and build a house, in a safer location. Besides, who would want to live directly on the border? It isn't like his ancestral homeplace or anything.
6 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 12/13/2019 10:05:17 AM (No. 260888)
Don't worry Salvador, we won't charge you for the extra security you'll be enjoying. 'Good fences make good neighbors.'
3 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
red1066 12/13/2019 10:06:28 AM (No. 260889)
I don't give a rat's rear end if this guy was a Afghanistan vet. The border is the border. Your property ends where the border begins. If a wall is to be built next to his property, so be it. It might stop some of the bullets coming from Mexico from hitting his house. Next time this guy should take heed of the Real Estate creed. LOCATION, LOCATION,LOCATION.
6 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
bighambone 12/13/2019 10:25:06 AM (No. 260925)
Remember there are a lot of people, including landowners, on both sides of the borderline who have benefited financially, both directly and indirectly, from the long term massive smuggling of all forms of contraband, illicit dangerous drugs, and illegal aliens, across that borderline and into the USA. So those people don’t want that smuggling to stop and are against any effective borderline barrier (wall) that is bound to disrupt those long term smuggling routes. Beyond those facts, those landowners want to squeeze as much money as possible out of the federal government in return for the strip of land that is needed to build an effective and modern borderline barrier.
5 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
Strike3 12/13/2019 10:26:32 AM (No. 260927)
If they wanted to be that close to the Rio Grande they could have moved back to Mexico or up to Nebraska.
2 people like this.
No surprise. With a project this size it would be astounding if nobody objected. Doesn't mean these folks hate Trump and are for open borders, it just means they don't want it on their property. This is probably common with any public taking.
1 person likes this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
snowoutlaw 12/13/2019 11:07:33 AM (No. 260966)
WP so I suspect the property was bought for the sole reason to stop the wall.
1 person likes this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
LadyHen 12/13/2019 11:22:48 AM (No. 260981)
Who in their right mind buys a 1 acre plot and builds a home ON the border with Mexico? And I'm with a previous poster, a 1 acre homestead? Oh please. Homestead with a few bovines = 15 + acres in my mind and that is in green lush Tennessee.
The TVA and the interstates took a great deal of land in this state for the common good. It can be very sad but necessary. My dh's 200 acre family farm has huge TVA electrical towers stretched across it because of the common good. I like having electricity as do our neighbors. Life goes on.
1 person likes this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
DVC 12/13/2019 12:43:03 PM (No. 261089)
TWashComPost, working on dividing us on The Wall. I am sorry for those who are impacted, and they definitely need to be properly reimbursed, but I will bet that most of the areas where the wall is going are ranch lands where peeling off a strip along the border is no real big deal, especially if the crime goes down and they are protected from the over the border thugs.
1 person likes this.
Reply 27 - Posted by:
StormCnter 12/13/2019 3:37:47 PM (No. 261260)
My understanding from the article is that the cows aren't on his one acre, but on adjoining property. It says "cows grazing ...along the property's edge". It's sad that so many are so quick to condemn any person's desire to hold on to his property. Yes, he'll be compensated, but what ever he buys won't be the one he enjoyed.
My father had a 200 acre farm in Denton County, Texas. He had owned it since 1949 and ran a small dairy. When the feds wanted to build I-35, they paid my dad $30,000 for a strip cutting the 200 acres into two hundred acre parcels. The dairy was ruined because there was no way to access the pastures on the opposite side of the interstate from the dairy barns. He appreciated the money, but mourned the dairy.
I sympathize with Mr. Castillo's resistance.
2 people like this.
Reply 28 - Posted by:
DVC 12/13/2019 4:29:14 PM (No. 261328)
#28, I have seen a farm, can't remember where, probably Nebraska or Colorado, maybe Kansas, where there was a concrete tunnel, looking much like a creek waterway, but totally dry, not near a creek bottom and the Holsteins (it must have been a diary operation, too) were walking through it, able to access both sides.
I suspect that would have required an agreement before selling the land, but they build creek crossings all the time, often several per mile, it seems like it wouldn't have been really difficult to get included.
2 people like this.
Reply 29 - Posted by:
paral04 12/14/2019 12:38:28 PM (No. 262093)
This is called eminent domain and it can happen to anyone. Our highway system, TVA, school buildings, et al were acquired by eminent domain.. Anyway, why would these landowners wand migrants tramping and destroying their land?
0 people like this.
Reply 30 - Posted by:
TXknitter 12/14/2019 4:28:35 PM (No. 262306)
I think all of us who own century farms or land that has been in the family for many years. However, this is about more than Mr. Castillo’s family. Sorry, he will be compensated and this is an American issue now and he needs to simply do as he is being asked. Landowners along that border knew this was coming years ago.
0 people like this.
Reply 31 - Posted by:
StormCnter 12/15/2019 5:06:39 AM (No. 262691)
#29, your impression seems to be that it would have been easy to get the feds to agree to some sort of access under the Interstate. You're mistaken. My dad tried everything, including lawyers to handle the negotiations. There would be no tunnel under, overpass over or any other accommodation to the landowner. The deal was "take the money or we'll condemn it and give you the money anyway".
2 people like this.
Reply 32 - Posted by:
judy 12/15/2019 5:18:59 AM (No. 262697)
Sorry WP it takes more than one acre for cattle to graze. I suggest his One acre be incorporated into Mexico.
0 people like this.
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1200 of the 1900 miles of border with Mexico are in Texas. The WSJ has a much more informative piece this AM, but there is a paywall.