For almost three years, Donald Trump has been trying to build a wall on the border with Mexico. The US President claims that it will make illegal immigration and drug smuggling more difficult. Critics, on the other hand, consider the planned building to be largely senseless.
Just over a year before the presidential elections, it is now clear that the project is making very slow progress. As the New York Times reported on Thursday, construction has been delayed because much of the country where sections of the wall are to be built is still privately owned. Getting to these properties is perhaps the biggest hurdle for the president to honor one of his key campaign promises, the US newspaper said.
The construction of the wall is politically controversial anyway, also because it will devour several billion dollars. There were violent disputes with Congress about the funding, which did not want to approve the funds.
Almost five out of 260 kilometers
Of the roughly 260 kilometers of border fortifications that are supposed to run through the southern part of Texas, a good 231 kilometers were on private property, according to the "New York Times", which relies on information from the US Customs and Border Protection Service. Since 2017, the government has only been able to purchase almost five kilometers of it. The previous construction measures were mainly carried out on land that had previously been owned by the state.
Landowners have little chance of successfully defending their country's expropriation, the New York Times reports. But that obviously doesn't stop many from trying anyway.
The government under George W. Bush had sued more than 300 landowners when the then US president signed a law in 2006 to better secure the existing border with Mexico. 46 of these cases have not yet been closed - and dozens have been added.
Most of the plots along the eastern half of the border, i.e. between El Paso and the Atlantic, are intended for wall construction and are owned by farmers, private owners or companies. Another section in southern Texas would also split up a nature reserve. And on the Texas Gulf Coast, the wall would lead through an area where space company SpaceX is currently building a new rocket launcher.