South Texas families sue feds to stop border wall construction on their lands - EverythingLubbock.com

Frank Briscoe, an architectural conservator who lives in San Ygnacio, filed suit on August 5 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District in Laredo. His neighbor Joel Ruiz filed a separate lawsuit. "We want them to stay off our property," Briscoe told Border Report. Both suits invoke the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment and seek just compensation up to $10,000.

The cases land in federal court as border wall construction pushes through private landholdings along the Rio Grande. San Ygnacio sits in Zapata County, far from Lubbock, but EverythingLubbock picked up the story, and West Texans with rural property or farming operations have long watched eminent domain disputes along the border closely.

For landowners anywhere in Texas, the suits spotlight a real tension: the federal government can move on private land under eminent domain, but owners retain the constitutional right to fight for fair payment. These two families are doing exactly that rather than simply absorbing the loss.

Two separate lawsuits from neighbors on the same stretch of land suggests the construction path cuts through more than one property in that area.