openpolitics.com

The biggest problem for Trump’s border wall isn’t money. It’s getting the land.

Eminent domain fights could take years.

 Tamez fought the government in federal court. During seven years of litigation and negotiation, she became famous for resisting the border fence. The government eventually paid her $56,000 for a quarter-acre the fence sits on and gave her a code to open a gate so she can access her land to its south.

.. Only about one-third of the land the wall would sit on is owned by the federal government or by Native American tribes, according to the Government Accountability Office. And much of that territory is already fenced. The rest of the border is controlled by states and private property owners.

.. As it happens, the president has plenty of experience attempting to seize land on the East Coast.