Trump officials sue Catholic diocese in bid to seize land for border wall
· Axios
A holy site home to a 29-foot-tall limestone statue of Jesus Christ is in the crosshairs of President Trump's border wall construction plans.
Why it matters: The Trump administration is now suing a Catholic diocese to seize church land at the base of the holy site at Mount Cristo Rey, New Mexico, making it the latest hot spot of local resistance to border wall construction.
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Driving the news: Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin initiated the lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces, according to a complaint filed last week and first reported by Bloomberg.
- The Trump administration is seeking to use eminent domain to take about 14 acres of land from the Catholic Church in Dona Ana County, New Mexico.
- Officials suggest that just compensation for the land is $183,071, according to the legal complaint.
The other side: "The mountaintop shrine is the site of annual pilgrimages. On the feast day of Christ the King each fall, as many as 40,000 faithful climb Mount Cristo Rey to 'marvel at the beauty of the monument and the view offered from the summit' and to participate in a mass," attorneys for the Diocese wrote in a response.
- The Diocese is trying to keep the land by using a First Amendment defense, for the right to religious expression, as well as a Religious Freedom Restoration Act defense.
The big picture: Pushback from local landowners has delayed some border wall construction and even removed some sections of physical wall in national and state parks in West Texas.
- But the Trump administration has suggested the landowners have almost no choice to ultimately avoid construction.
- Letters to private landowners asking for access to private property say that if construction isn't voluntarily allowed that the land could be taken through eminent domain.
What they're saying: DHS and Diocese did not respond immediately to Axios' Tuesday afternoon requests for comment.