Government ups ante in effort to seize La Lomita Mission land for Trump's border wall
The federal government is demanding "immediate possession" of the site of a historic South Texas mission for use in the planned wall along the border with Mexico, escalating a battle the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville has framed as an infringement on freedom of religion.
"Time is of the essence," the government said in a document filed in the federal court in McAllen just before Thanksgiving. The filing notes that Congress authorized the taking of private land for border security more than a decade ago. "The United States needs immediate possession of the subject property in order to meet this congressional directive."
The land in dispute is about 66 acres in the town of Mission that beginning in the mid-19th century was home to chapels and living quarters for priests that became known as La Lomita, or "the little hill."
The existing chapel, which replaced one destroyed by a flood, has been on the property since 1899.
Read moe: https://www.caller.com/story/news/local/texas/state-bureau/2018/11/27/eminent-domain-fight-escalates-over-south-texas-la-lomita-mission-border-wall-fight/2126168002/
(Corpus Christi Caller-Times)
= new reply since forum marked as read
