Trump Illegally Begins Building Border Wall Through Private Property in Texas
On July 20, Jeffrey Glassberg discovered that the Trump administration planned to build a wall through the National Butterfly Center in South Texas — a 100-acre sanctuary for the monarch butterfly and other threatened species. The founder of the center wasn’t notified in writing by the U.S. Department of Justice, as required by law. Instead, he found out when a group of workers with chainsaws began tearing through specially planted habitat on the privately owned land.
“This is a much bigger issue than the National Butterfly Center,” Glassberg told the Observer. “There’s a procedure the government could follow with due process. But they’ve decided — like with so much else — to just ignore the law, trampling on private property rights. The complete disrespect for the legalities of this country is something that ought to concern every American regardless of how they feel about a border wall.”
The center’s a mile away from the border. There was no notice, neither for the civilians nor local Border Patrol. The only official word comes from Manuel Padilla, head of the Border Patrol Rio Grande Valley sector. He showed up unannounced to tell the Center that construction crews would be building the wall on private property and that they would have armed guards.
This is basic Trump. He doesn’t care about law, and he likes to use his power to bully other people. Except now, of course, he’s using the US government like he used his lawyers.
