# Border property
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 5, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828 "2017-04-05T17:17:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/1 "2017-04-05T17:17:34Z")
[This article](http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/if-i-have-to-get-a-lawyer-i-will-trump-voter-upset-his-border-wall-will-put-her-house-on-mexico-side/) is of the ‘Ha, ha! You voted for Trump, and now look what you got!’ variety. But it raises some questions.
> [@](#):
>
> According to one family who had their farm cut in half — part of it in the U.S., part of it in Mexico — they are still stunned that government was able to take their property 10 years ago.
>
> “I was very angry, I just kept saying, how can they do that? How is that possible in the United States that they can do this?” D’Ann Loop of Brownsville recalled. “They put up a fence in front of our land and then keep us in here — lock us in. I didn’t understand. I was very — I was floored and flabbergasted.”
>
> According to Loop, all of their property is now on the Mexico side after losing in court.
This begs the question of whether the U.S. government took their property at all. Their property is in a foreign country. If anyone took it, it was Mexico.
And _did_ Mexico take their property? If they’re still living there, it implies that the property was not taken. ISTR hearing that foreigners cannot own property in Mexico, but I haven’t looked it up.
The property of the person in the quote was ‘taken’ ten years ago, so voting for Trump had nothing to do with it. It sounds like they acquired property that they assumed was within U.S. boundaries, and it’s actually in Mexico. Harsh, but the border is the border and cannot be changed to suit individuals without a treaty.
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### Author:  [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/2 "2017-04-05T17:27:00Z")
As I understand it, maybe not in this case but in some cases, the fence is set in a little from the border, so the cut-off land is still US territory (and still technically their property) but it is now painful to use and worth a lot less.
(And as I watch the video that is exactly the case here – their land is US soil, but on the Mexican side of the fence).
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/3 "2017-04-05T17:35:12Z")
> [@leahcim](#):
>
> (And as I watch the video that is exactly the case here – their land is US soil, but on the Mexican side of the fence).
I tend not to play videos in articles, unless the video is the subject. Thank you for watching, and seeing that.
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### Author:  [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/4 "2017-04-05T17:53:41Z")
Yeah, the article is a little misleading on that count. The CNN video is careful to say “on the Mexican side of the wall” rather than the less-accurate “in Mexico”.
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### Author:  [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/5 "2017-04-05T17:55:18Z")
Eminent domain sucks, but it’s been the law for a thousand years. Nobody owns anything, they’re just renting it from the government. Adjust your real estate shopping accordingly.
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### Author:  [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/6 "2017-04-05T18:11:42Z")
> [@DrCube](#):
>
> Eminent domain sucks, but it’s been the law for a thousand years.
Yeah, this. There have been many abuses of eminent domain in recent decades, but this is clearly not one of them. Building a border wall is one of the few things that literally cannot be done in some other location, and as such is exactly the sort of project that justifies the existence of eminent domain.
Anyone who doesn’t know about this has only themselves to blame.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/7 "2017-04-05T18:22:50Z")
At some point some official had the border surveyed. The border ceased being the Rio Grande and became where the Rio Grande was at the time of the survey. Some land changed borders with the shift of the river bank. This was fairly easy to ignore until another troublesome official decided to build a fence.
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### Author:  [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/8 "2017-04-05T19:21:41Z")
I watched another, similar news story recently where the resident was able to get a door put in the fence so that she could go through the Wall and visit the rest of her property. I think she may have been Native American, however, so the land perhaps was considered tribal. Either that or she had much better lawyers.
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### Author:  [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/9 "2017-04-05T19:33:11Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#):
>
> I watched another, similar news story recently where the resident was able to get a door put in the fence so that she could go through the Wall and visit the rest of her property.
The people in the story have a gate, too.
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### Author:  [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/10 "2017-04-05T19:33:11Z")
> [@Horatius](#):
>
> Yeah, this. There have been many abuses of eminent domain in recent decades, but this is clearly not one of them. Building a border wall is one of the few things that literally cannot be done in some other location, and as such is exactly the sort of project that justifies the existence of eminent domain.
>
> Anyone who doesn’t know about this has only themselves to blame.
We could have built The Wall on the Mexican side of the border … there’s been some interesting discussions about how to complete The Wall in the Big Bend area of Texas …
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/11 "2017-04-05T20:04:39Z")
I wonder how much they were compensated.
The market value of the farm land, or the added value of income it would produce over fifty years or so?
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### Author:  [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/12 "2017-04-05T20:13:34Z")
I watched [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEBDA1MsYKc) Anderson Cooper piece earlier today.
With the Loop’s property fell on the path of the wall. The US eminent domained a path for the wall leaving them with two pieces of property. They put in a gate so the family would still have access to their house that was on American soil, south of the wall. This was a major problem when they had a house fire and fire trucks couldn’t get to them.
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### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/13 "2017-04-05T20:36:55Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#):
>
> We could have built The Wall on the Mexican side of the border … there’s been some interesting discussions about how to complete The Wall in the Big Bend area of Texas …
And just how do we do this without Mexico’s permission? I doubt that it’s as easy as buying land in Mexico and building a wall. People have legitimate rights to access water, you can’t really just go to their country and wall it off from them. Wall of the Rio Grande on the American side and you are basically giving the river back to Mexico.
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### Author:  [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/14 "2017-04-05T20:54:34Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#):
>
> We could have built The Wall on the Mexican side of the border … there’s been some interesting discussions about how to complete The Wall in the Big Bend area of Texas …
How do you propose to do that without going to war with Mexico to take their territory?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/15 "2017-04-05T20:56:22Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#):
>
> How do you propose to do that without going to war with Mexico to take their territory?
We did it successfully before! 😛
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/16 "2017-04-05T21:04:34Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#):
>
> And just how do we do this without Mexico’s permission? I doubt that it’s as easy as buying land in Mexico and building a wall. People have legitimate rights to access water, you can’t really just go to their country and wall it off from them. Wall of the Rio Grande on the American side and you are basically giving the river back to Mexico.
Build the wall right down the middle of the river.
😃
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### Author:  [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/17 "2017-04-05T21:11:33Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> I wonder how much they were compensated.
> The market value of the farm land, or the added value of income it would produce over fifty years or so?
Just the market value of the farmland … the money can then be invested elsewhere to replace the income …
> [@Si\_Amigo](#):
>
> And just how do we do this without Mexico’s permission? I doubt that it’s as easy as buying land in Mexico and building a wall. People have legitimate rights to access water, you can’t really just go to their country and wall it off from them. Wall of the Rio Grande on the American side and you are basically giving the river back to Mexico.
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#):
>
> How do you propose to do that without going to war with Mexico to take their territory?
Just ask their permission … with the right incentives I’m sure they’d be glad to offer up the land … if this stops cocaine and heroin from coming into the USA, then people will stop moving the filthy white shit into Mexico … you’d think Mexican authorities would be glad of that …
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> We did it successfully before! 😛
… or not ask permission … what are they going to do … suspend NAFTA …
I’m not sure it would be easier to build The Wall on the Mexican side of the Big Bend area anyway … if it was easy to complete The Wall, it would be already completed …
The wall is useless if it’s not guarded … and if we hire the guards for the border … we won’t need The Wall … this is ALL congress’ fault …
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/18 "2017-04-05T21:47:45Z")
I was speaking of land still on the North side of the river. I would think that it would be difficult to farm land on the South side if your farm were for the most part on the North.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/19 "2017-04-05T21:57:13Z")
Errata: I have asked that the typo in the title be fixed.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-property/783828/20 "2017-04-05T21:57:54Z")
**Moderator Note**
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> Errata: I have asked that the typo in the title be fixed.
Fixed.
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