Stealing Land to Build Trump’s Wall

by | Jan 22, 2019

Stealing Land to Build Trump’s Wall

by | Jan 22, 2019

As I have repeatedly emphasized over the years, a system of immigration controls inevitably involves immigration enforcement measures. That is, when we talk about immigration controls, we are not simply referring to a sign at the border that says: “Do not enter without the official permission of the U.S. government.” No immigrant would pay any attention to such a sign.

Thus, to enforce the immigration-control system, the federal  government increasingly enacts immigration-enforcement measures, which inevitably involve a violation of the libertarian non-aggression principle.

They stop people crossing the border and conduct warrantless searches of their bodies (including sometimes body cavities), cars, and cell-phones. Everyone has become so accustomed to this because it’s the system in which we have all been born and raised. But it truly is a shocking notion that a people who claim to be free have to subject themselves to this type of thing just because they are returning from a foreign country.

They trespass onto people’s ranches and farms, again without warrants, to conduct intrusive searches.

They have highway checkpoints, just like in communist countries, where people who have never left the United States are subject to intrusive searches, again without a warrant.

Roving Border Patrol checkpoints, where they stop vehicles for arbitrary and capricious reasons, and require the driver to submit to a search, again without a warrant.

Border Patrol agents board Greyhound buses and demanding that dark-skinned people produce papers establishing that they are here legally. No warrant.

Forcible separation of children from parents. Armed raids on private businesses. Forced deportations.

You get the point — an immigration police state, which comes with a system of immigration controls, just like thunder comes with lightning.

On Saturday, the Washington Post published an article entitled “To Build the Wall, Trump Might Make Thousands of Americans Suffer” by Ilya Somin, a contributor to The Volokh Conspiracy. Somin’s article points to eminent-domain proceedings that would have to be employed against thousands of American landowners to get the land on which to build Trump’s Wall.

America was founded on the principle of private property, which, as our American ancestors understood, is a key to a free society. Thus the Fifth Amendment prohibits the federal government from taking anyone’s property from him without due process of law.

The Constitution did not delegate any eminent domain power to the federal government. Instead, the power was implicitly delegated in the Fifth Amendment, which states in part, “nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”

That is what the Constitution provides, but from a libertarian standpoint no one should ever be forced to give up his property for any reason, with our without “just compensation.” It’s his private property, not the government’s. That’s what the sanctity of private property is all about — the right to keep it and not be forced to turn it over to the government.

As Somin points out, that’s precisely what will happen if Trump gets his wall approved. The feds will begin forcibly seizing people’s privately owned land on the border. Oh, sure, they’ll pay the landowner “just compensation,” but the fact is that, as Somin points out, many landowners would choose to keep their land and reject the money.

Moreover, as Somin points out, the government inevitably low-balls the “just compensation.” Rich landowners who can afford lawyers and litigation, inevitably get more money. But landowners who are not wealthy and cannot afford the legal process, inevitably have to settle for less than fair market value.

Trump’s Wall and his eminent-domain stealing of people’s land would be just more immigration-enforcement measures that contribute to the immigration police state that both conservatives and liberals have constructed in the American Southwest.

Republished from fff.org.

About Jacob Hornberger

Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation.

Our Books

latest book lineup.

Related Articles

Related

In Defense of Inaction

In Defense of Inaction

On March 17, The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by a woman named Mary Anastasia O’Grady titled, “Giving up on Haiti Isn’t a U.S. Option.” She argues, in short, that Americans don’t have a choice but to continue doing all the things that have failed in the past...

read more
Is America a Rogue Superpower?

Is America a Rogue Superpower?

“Unipolar” used to mean that the United States was, at least in theory, alone in leading the world. Now “unipolar” means that the United States is alone and isolated in opposition to the world. In global affairs, a hegemon is a nation that leads because it has the...

read more
Collateral Murder 2.0

Collateral Murder 2.0

When the footage of Reuters journalists and civilians were Wikileaked to the world, there was outrage. A shame exhibited by some in the American government caused them to reel from the crime that had been exposed, to downplay the prevalence of such murders, and...

read more
The Fed and the Fight for 2%

The Fed and the Fight for 2%

Last week, Jerome Powell & Co. met to issue an immediate decision regarding the status of the federal funds rate for March, and to provide some insight into the trajectory of monetary policy for the rest of 2024 and into 2025. As with the past few inflation...

read more
Truth Has No Chance on Capitol Hill

Truth Has No Chance on Capitol Hill

Americans are encouraged to believe that the U.S. Congress is practically on automatic pilot to serve the public. Happily, most Americans are not so gullible and Congress receives much of the contempt it deserves in public opinion polls. But the media and the...

read more
What Is ‘Extremism’?

What Is ‘Extremism’?

Amidst protests in the United Kingdom that have been going on since October 7, there have been multiple allegations of extemists among the protestors intimidating, harassing, and scaring innocent people who are not involved in the demonstrations. It seems that even...

read more