The next battle over the border barrier will be eminent domain Opponents of President Trump?s ?big, beautiful wall? along the Mexican border, comforted that the latest budget deal doesn?t appropriate any direct funding for construction, shouldn?t rest easy just yet.
Last week, Press secretary Spicer argued with a reporter who accused the White House of downgrading the wall to a fence; the phrase ?alternative walls? was thrown around.
But neither metaphor nor budget has staunched all progress. The administration claims that increased border security and defense spending amounts to a ?down payment? on said wall.
The administration and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)?the federal agency that would be tasked with building a non-metaphorical wall?still plan to pursue the project and fulfill a key campaign promise. But obtaining funding may be far from the most difficult hurdle to overcome for a project of this magnitude, according to analysts and legal experts.
The true test of the wall?s feasibility may boil down to property: The government only owns about a third of the land along the nearly 2,000-mile border between Mexico and the United States, and obtaining the rest would require untying a knot of legal and ownership issues.
While the government can use broad eminent domain powers?the right of the government to expropriate private property for public use, with fair payment?past border security efforts have shown that tactic to be both tricky and time-cons...