Editorial: Eminent domain makes Trump’s wall infeasible
“About two-thirds of the 2,000-mile Mexican-American border is composed of private and state-owned lands, much of which will have to be acquired — if President Donald Trump’s wall is to ever become a reality — via the use of eminent domain; the power possessed by the government to “take private property and convert it to public use.”
The eminent domain process is a messy one. There will be hundreds of private landowners who will have to be contacted, and negotiated with — agreements and settlements will have to be made, murky lawsuits will have to be paddled through, the government will make its payouts, and, eventually, possibly, there will be a wall built along this southern border that will have made all or most of its neighbors angry and upset.
Eminent domain was actually used by former President George W. Bush in his own efforts to establish a more secure barrier along the Mexican-American border. Private property was seized by the administration, and payouts were made — wherein there are always questions of justice and fairness — so that a wall could be erected that subdivides owners’ properties, and greatly reduces the value or usefulness of all the land it affects.”
Iowa State Daily 5 February 2017.