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NEW: @JinATX and I found that CBP awarded at least 12 TX #borderwall contracts without 1st owning all the land, racking up millions in delay costs.
Then the agency used the delays on those contracts in court as justification to immediately take the land. https://www.propublica.org/article/texas-border-wall-contracts-land-trump-administration
Then the agency used the delays on those contracts in court as justification to immediately take the land. https://www.propublica.org/article/texas-border-wall-contracts-land-trump-administration
Building a border wall was one of Trump’s core campaign promises. The instruction to CBP was to get as much done as possible. The problem is that in Texas most of the riverfront land is privately owned.
Out of the 110 miles the administration planned to build in the #RioGrandeValley, just 15 miles had been finished as of mid-December.
While CBP says the practice is efficient, allowing for construction to start immediately after acquiring the land, experts (including @weareoversight) say it could lead to waste.
In four projects alone, we found that delay costs had already reached more than $9 million based on CBP statements and dates when the courts granted the government immediate possession.
In September, CBP even had to suspend 1 contract to build 4 miles in #StarrCounty awarded in June 2019 because it didn’t have the land, costing nearly $1.6 million as of Nov. 24.
According to CBP court filings, daily delay costs ranged from $15,000 to $100,000, depending on the size of the contract, and would run into the millions if it had to terminate.
Biden has said he will stop border wall construction on day one, but the Trump administration continues to work at breakneck speed. Nearly 40 eminent domain lawsuits have been filed in South Texas since Election Day.
A group of Democrats, led by @RepCuellar, sent Biden a letter calling him to end to the national emergency declaration, cancel contracts and drop the lawsuits. https://cuellar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=405960
On Tuesday, Biden appeared to walk back previous statements when he said it would take time to roll back Trump immigration policies and reversal would not be swift.
His statement did not address the border wall. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/biden-immigration-policy-changes/2020/12/22/2eb9ef92-4400-11eb-8deb-b948d0931c16_story.html
His statement did not address the border wall. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/biden-immigration-policy-changes/2020/12/22/2eb9ef92-4400-11eb-8deb-b948d0931c16_story.html
Either way, the incoming Biden administration and 100s of #Texas landowners are left in a web of title and compensation disputes, multimillion-dollar contracts and a string of unfinished — and disconnected — projects all along the Rio Grande.
