‘Miscellaneous’ hearing set in border land fight

A “miscellaneous” hearing for 12 local property owners being sued by the government for access to their land is scheduled for Friday in federal court.

The Department of Homeland Security is seeking immediate access to public and private lands that edge the U.S.-Mexico border here in order to begin surveying for a planned border fence.

The government’s lawsuit threatens temporary possession of the land in order to gain entry without requiring the owners’ permission or a court hearing.

The U.S. District Clerk’s Office entered notice Monday that the 12 condemnation cases filed Thursday and Friday will be discussed at 1:30 p.m. Friday before U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen at the federal courthouse on East Harrison Street.

The suit comes after DHS tried to secure permission from property owners resisting the border fence efforts. Though the government is not yet seeking to purchase the land, they will pay a small fee for its temporary use, if they secure court orders.

Property owners are denouncing the legal maneuver they see as government strong-arming.

Elia F. Mendoza did not respond to the government’s request to access her property, a tract of land off of Military Highway. The lawsuit means they are no longer seeking her permission.

“Why are they asking me then?” Mendoza said Monday from Las Vegas, Nev., where she lives.

“I should be able to dispose of my property,” she said. “I’m supposed to be in a free country. This is not Cuba or other dictatorship.”

Mendoza’s plot of land measures about 100 feet by 960 feet and sits about 15 miles outside Brownsville in an area known as Los Ranchitos Subdivision. DHS is seeking possession of a little more than ¾ of an acre.

She bought the property in the early 1990s for more than $30,000 and asserted Monday that, “If they want it, they should pay for it.”

The $100 that DHS has deposited for the proposed temporary use of the land for six months is an, “insult,” Mendoza said.

“They should pay well,” she said, indicating that there if there are millions of dollars to build a fence, there also should be ample funds to pay a fair amount for the properties.

If the government decides it will condemn the land to move forward with construction, they would pay a price established through court proceedings for the 159.29 acres in question.

Property owners named in the federal lawsuit:

Elia F. Mendoza, of Valle Hermoso, Mexico, Brownsville, and Las Vegas, Nev.

Betty L. Morgan, Harlingen

Brownsville Public Utilities Board

Betty Yoder Mikkelsen and Gretchen Yoder, Minnesota

Guadalupe Rojas, Los Indios

Alvaro Hernandez, Matamoros

Ivonne Guadalupe Paredes Martinez, Brownsville

Consuelo Soto, Brownsville

Miguel A. Ortiz and Jose Antonio Ortiz, Brownsville

Jones & Jones Properties Inc., (as an agent of Maria P. Ayala), Garland

R.C. Smith Trust of Garland

Daniel Yturria and Richard Butler, Yturria Land & Cattle Co., Brownsville