Court Allows Claim Over Border Patrol’s Occupancy

WASHINGTON (CN) - A California property owner might be entitled to compensation for the U.S. Border Patrol's "round-the-clock" occupation of its land in order to arrest and seize illegal immigrants crossing the border, the U.S. Federal Claims Court ruled.

The court rejected the government's motion for dismissal, saying the stakeout on D&D Landholding's 135-acre property in San Diego County, less than a mile from the Mexican border, may constitute a taking under the Fifth Amendment.

For "well over two decades," the Border Patrol and the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection have actively patrolled its property, the plaintiff claimed, because border fences funnel illegal immigrants away from San Diego and north onto D&D Landholding's property in East Otay Mesa, "where Border Patrol agents await to apprehend, arrest, and deport them."

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