Judge, landowners giving feds a fight on border fence

The Associated Press

Published: 03.17.2008

McALLEN, Texas - Some resistant South Texas landowners and a deliberate federal judge have come between the government and its goal of nearly 700 miles of Mexican-border fencing by the end of the year.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen has ordered the government to negotiate with owners over the price of access to the land, an extra step that has slowed the project.

Most landowners in Arizona, California and Texas have allowed the government on their property, but some have refused, prompting the Department of Justice to sue.

Communities along the Rio Grande in South Texas have fought the most. They fear being cut off from the river and agricultural lands and bristle at the imposition of a plan hatched in Washington, D.C.

Officials want to determine which properties they need and whether they have to buy the land or seize it through eminent domain. They also want to determine whether alternatives, such as lighting, more Border Patrol agents or technology would work better in some areas.

Most of the nearly 500 property owners in the fence's path gave voluntary access to their land and more than 30 miles of fencing have been built.