Trump administration sues Catholic diocese to seize land near El Paso for border barrier

To install more border barriers, the Trump administration wants to seize 14 acres of land on an iconic mountain outside of El Paso owned by the Catholic Diocese of neighboring Las Cruces, New Mexico, that attracts thousands of people for an annual religious pilgrimage.

The land the federal government wants to take sits at the bottom of Mount Cristo Rey, a 720-foot-tall mountain with a 29-foot-tall statue of Jesus Christ at its summit, that overlooks Ciudad Juárez, El Paso and Sunland Park, N.M.

Last week, lawyers for the Trump administration filed a lawsuit in a federal court in New Mexico against the diocese of Las Cruces, which is resisting the government’s attempt to take the land. The lawsuit argues that the federal government needs the land to install barriers and other technology “designed to help secure the United States-Mexico border.”

The administration said in court documents that it has offered the church $183,000 for the land.

The church said in court documents the Trump administration’s efforts violate its First Amendment right to religious expression.

“The erection of a border wall through or along this holy site could irreparably damage its religious and cultural sanctity, obstruct pilgrimage routes, and transfer sacred space into a symbol of division,” the diocese said. “Any federal action to seize this land, construct physical barriers, or impede access to Mount Cristo Rey would constitute a significant infringement on religious freedom and the rights of worship.”

Every fall, up to 40,000 people make a pilgrimage to the top of the mountain, where the Diocese of Las Cruces and El Paso host a mass. Traditionally, the event is held on the last Sunday of October, but in recent years the pilgrimage has moved to the feast day of Christ the King in November.

Some do the five-mile journey barefoot, others have crawled to the summit on their knees.

“Mt. Cristo Rey’s cultural and religious significance is central to our region. Seizing this community asset in order to build a border wall is consistent with the Trump administration’s blatant disregard for what communities like ours value,” U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, said in a statement. “There are a number of other ways to provide border security. Instead, the Trump administration prefers to destroy this sacred site.”

The Trump administration has said the area is a high-traffic route for human smuggling and it wants to close the gap to stop illegal immigration. The area has also been the site of a record number of migrant deaths since the state and federal government has increased military surveillance in this part of Texas, even as the number of immigrants crossing has plummeted.

Ruben Escandon, Jr., a spokesperson for the Mount Cristo Rey Restoration Committee, a volunteer group not affiliated with the church that maintains the site, said he supports adding additional barriers in the area because he wants to make sure the public is safe from any illegal activity. He said that barrier construction will not prevent visitors from accessing the top of the mountain.

“Finishing that wall, for us, will help maintain the religious, cultural and artistic aspect,” he said.

Ray Aguilar, a conservationist in Ciudad Juárez, said efforts to construct more barriers in the area not only negatively affect the local biodiversity but hurt cultural ties on both sides of the border. Cristo Rey serves as a corridor for animals that cross between La Sierra de Juárez in Mexico and El Paso’s Franklin Mountains.

“Plants and animals don’t recognize boundaries, so when factors of this magnitude occur it only puts at risk biodiversity that is already at risk of going extinct,” he said.

Last summer, the Trump administration announced that it was erecting border barriers in the area and started construction for 1.32 miles of border barrier south of the mountain in Sunland Park.

SLSCO, a Galveston-based company, won a $95 million contract to erect the 30-foot-tall steel barriers with concrete reinforcement. Crews started the work earlier this year.

It’s the latest effort by the Trump administration to use eminent domain laws to take land, including religious and cultural sites, for border barriers.

The administration had revealed plans for border barriers in Big Bend National Park, but both Republican and Democratic state and local leaders, along with residents, environmentalists and advocates, publicly condemned the efforts.

Recently, the commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the government won’t build barriers in the national park, but has continued with plans to install surveillance technology, which many in the area oppose because of the damage construction crews inflict on the desert landscape. The government also continues to seize private property in areas near the park to erect a border wall.

In Arizona, construction crews damaged a rare Native American archaeological site that is believed to be at least 1,000 years old.

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This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.