On the steps of the US Federal Courthouse in Laredo Monday activists, attorneys, and riverside property owners gathered in a COVID-safe protest to reveal a new united front in the effort to stop the border wall.
“Today, the NoBorderWall Coalition just got a whole lot stronger,” said Tricia Cortez, Executive Director of RGISC, as she announced the emergence of a new “Landowners Coalition” made up of private property owners in Webb and Zapata Counties.
“The wall is not a done deal. We have a path to victory for our community,” declared Cortez standing atop a concrete pillar. “Whether you have three small acres, or thousands of acres, we are all in this together.”
“The government is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build a wall and they are not willing to pay landowners a penny,” said Ricardo de Anda, an attorney who on Friday filed a new defense in response to a condemnation lawsuit filed by the U.S. government against Guillermo Caldera, a small business owner along the river. The US Government has refused to pay landowners in exchange for access to their land unless challenged, in which case, they’ll offer a nominal sum of $100. The recent filing underscores another filing earlier last week that asserts the unequal treatment imposed on border communities by US authorities is racially biased.
De Anda added, “We ask landowners in Webb and Zapata Counties, do not sign any documents presented to you by the government. Call a lawyer.”
“This land has been in my family for almost 100 years,” said Joe Hein, a property owner who operates a working horse ranch along the river. “Why is there a rush to build a wall right now when things are the same as they have been a year ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago? There is no national emergency,” Hein said. “We have history on our side. How can you violate people’s rights, when there is no emergency to justify it? We are a minority they are picking on.”
“I’m not scared, but I know a lot of people in Washington who are,” said Chris Rincon, Director of the River Pierce Foundation in San Ygnacio, who manages several nationally registered historic properties. “They did not expect us to fight back.”
“I grew up meters from the river,” said Juan Ruiz, 25, a field organizer for the NoBorderWall Coalition. “If you look at our history in the southwest, our communities have been deemed expendable in service of larger interests, not just because of where we are, but who we are.”
Several field organizers have begun the process of reaching out to the hundreds of landowners who are in the proposed wall’s “path of destruction” alongside the river in Webb and Zapata counties. They are contacting the landowners to ensure that they are fully informed, and their rights are not denied.
“We are now mobilizing ourselves in a way that has never been done before. Every day, more landowners are joining. They are ready to fight,” said Ruiz. “Landowners, you are not alone. We can help you.”
“We are going to fight this in the courts. We are going to fight this in the streets,” said de Anda. “We will beat this wall. We will prevail.”
The NoBorderWall Coalition has set up a
LANDOWNER HOTLINE:
phone: (956)-482-4401
email: juan@rgisc.org
A copy of the legal proceedings can be found here.
