Hearing on border fence lawsuits set for Thursday

U.S. Attorneys and Cameron County property owners will appear before a federal judge on Thursday to voice their concerns on land-condemnation lawsuits filed within the last two weeks.

They will again appear before U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen, who refused to give the U.S. Department of Homeland Security immediate access to lands without notice or hearing.

Hanen last week again denied U.S. Attorneys’ motion for “immediate possession” of the properties relative to the second batch of lawsuits filed in the U.S. District Court Southern District of Texas last week. These number nine.

“Plaintiff is ordered to provide notice of the hearing to: each defendant, anyone who owns or claims ownership of the properties in question, anyone occupying the properties, as well as their legal counsel, if known,” Hanen wrote in his order.

Hanen scheduled a hearing on the government’s latest move to gain temporary possession of more property for 10 a.m. in courtroom No. 6 at the U.S. federal courthouse on Harrison Street.

The government is seeking possession of the lands for 180 days to investigate their suitability for construction of a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border in the interest of national security. The government will pay the property owners $100 for the six-month use.

Hanen appeared skeptical at the Jan. 25 hearing that the government had not been able to locate all of the 12 landowners it initially sued on Jan. 18, telling government attorneys that surely they could have located the affected owners through tax records.

“Some live in Mexico,” government attorneys said. Some have a “post office box,” they also added, and some telephone numbers were not available, they pointed out.

Government attorneys told Hanen that land records in much of the Rio Grande Valley, “are confusing.”

News organizations, however, including The Brownsville Herald, have been able to contact landowners, including Elia F. Mendoza in Las Vegas, Nev. and her son Adalberto Mendoza in Brownsville. They were among property owners that government attorneys claimed they had not been able to locate to notify them of the hearing.

The property owners in the most recent filing and scheduled for Thursday’s hearing are Ruben Quiroz of San Benito, Celeste Montemayor Rodriguez of San Benito, Diana Santiso Del Rio of Mexico City and Brownsville, Huton G. Frazier of Bedford and the Estate of Luciano Ortiz, Maria Antoinette Pope of Brownsville, Morgan C. Jones of Garland, Borzynski Brothers Properties of San Benito and Franksville, Wis., and Sumner Family Partners of Raymondville with John A. Buffo as registered agent.

Buffo seemed unaware of the lawsuit when contacted by The Herald last week.