President Joe Biden’s Justice Department is moving forward with the previous administration’s process of building ex-President Donald Trump’s notorious wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, marking a glaring contradiction in Biden’s promise to step away from his predecessor’s hardline anti-immigration crusade.
Politico?
Never mind…
You’re just not human unless you’re breaking promises. And engaging in mass shootings. And sex trafficking. We’re flawed beings. Shit happens.
I wonder how much of a divide there is in Texas between the land owners on the border and the rest of Texas who don’t live along the border?
I ask this because once the federal gov’t, or even the state gov’t confiscate private property then that acreage is removed from the local tax property tax revenue.
And has the federal gov’t ever returned land ownership back to the original land owner?
Sitting Bull could not be reached for comment.
This is rather depressing. However, I suppose that being a successful pol requires the ability to jettison people and issues that you consider lost causes.
Saw this yesterday on the WaPo and I dug into it a little more. First off, this is certainly something to keep an eye on! But I’m confused as to why this bit keeps getting buried:
In February, DOJ asked the judge for a delay in the ruling, citing Biden’s proclamation. The hearing was put on hold until this week, when Judge Micaela Alvarez of the Texas Southern District Court — appointed by Republican George W. Bush — granted DOJ’s request. The ruling meant, in practical terms, that the government had rightful possession to the Cavazos family land.
And from the WaPo piece:
The ruling clears the way for the federal government to do what it wants with the land. […] Officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees the companies building the barrier, previously told The Post that it is unclear what will happen to private land seized by the government along the border. The Biden administration can renounce its claims for any property it has obtained but not yet paid for, the agencies said.
This isn’t Biden ordering the wall to continue. This is longstanding litigation that was resolved by the courts, ruling against the landowners. As a reminder, Biden doesn’t control the courts. We’ll have to see how the administration responds to this decision, but for now the situation looks way misreported.
Someone please correct me if my understanding of the legal nuance here is way off the mark.
EDIT: I also figure it’s not that easy for Joe to snap his fingers and stop border construction since the process has so many moving parts. This is also something that can’t take his full attention because of the pandemic and other things. As I said, this is something to keep and eye on, but I’m not ready to burn it all down just yet.
Yes, the focus is on Covid, and the economy, and infrastructure, and ending useless wars, and restoring a nuclear agreement with Iran, but it still rankles that there has been an absence of positive action on the border issues, which were not a surprise - and no strong leadership on limiting the automatic high-powered weapons that allow single individuals to kill and maim multiple people at will .
This is disappointing news.
Hasn’t some land been returned to Native Americans recently? Obviously, there would be limits on that, but there could also be some restitution.
What? Biden hasn’t fixed everything? My Gawd Noooooooooo!
It’s Politico, Jake.
Many people are saying that Biden will dedicate the seized border wall lands as the new Trump National Pork.
I read an article covering this yesterday also. To me, it seems it’s more that Biden was unable to stop every legal action that was already proceeding in the courts more so than actively seeking to continue them.
Yes, but that doesn’t drive clicks to your site…so.
I wonder if this falls into the “there’s so much shit to clean up after the last asshole we just haven’t gotten to this yet” category
Thank you for adding that to the conversation. As for the article, while I don’t actually expect every story to be fawning over the Biden administration’s every move, but this one seemed to go out of its way not to provide insight into the details of why this happened.
Let’s just say that Biden’s DOJ did not withdraw from the case as Biden had suggested it would.
Yes, the judge decided that Trump’s DOJ was within its rights to require that the property be handed over (with compensation).
Her decision allows but does not require Biden’s DOJ to proceed.
Yes.
We are still awaiting positive action.
Yeah, basically. Buried deep in the story is the fact that the feds asked back in February to delay the eminent domain hearing, but apparently the Dubya-appointed judge denied the request and moved forward anyway. The bullshit about the feds having “seized” the property is obvious bullshit, because the ruling can, and obviously will, still be appealed, not to mention all the post-judgment avenues of relief. And the reporter is so legally illiterate that she can’t even name the court correctly.
More accurate story: Republican Judge Temporarily Seizes Land In Continuation of Trump’s Wall.
BINGO! Land does not equal wall, but i agree with @jm_tpm above that this news is rather depressing. Still, until i read that contracts for wall construction are being signed, i’ll reserve the benefit of the doubt for Joe.
Unless we start seeing more wall go up he isn’t breaking anything. Stupid nonsense of a article.