Immigration Law

Here's the latest update on the "border war" between Texas landowners and the federal government. The government is trying to get access to the private land in order to do surveying in advance of building a border fence or wall that would cut off many landowners from their primary water source - the Rio Grande. From the Dallas Morning News:

A federal judge has ordered Cameron County property owners to open their land to the government for border fence surveying, but not before he denied the government the right to take the land without a hearing.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville ordered 10 landowners to comply with the government's request for access to their land for 180 days. Two others were near settlements with the government.

But Judge Hanen's order revealed he had denied a request from the federal government for a swift and private order like the one it received in a similar case in Eagle Pass. In filing its suit, the Justice Department asked Judge Hanen to rule immediately without participation from the landowners, a legal maneuver that is allowed in eminent domain cases.