Civil Liberties

DOJ Seeks Attorneys To Tackle Border Property Seizures
January 18, 2019

DOJ hiring attorneys to handle property seizures for border wall

By TED HESSON 01/17/2019 02:01 PM EST

The Justice Department placed an online job posting for a pair of attorneys to tackle border wall litigation in South Texas — a sign of coming property seizures and other legal controversies that President Donald Trump anticipates if he plows ahead with his signature project.

Trump has demanded that Congress provide $5.7 billion to build more than 200 miles of new and replacement barriers along the border. But those efforts will likely run into opposition from local landowners, environmentalists and Native American tribes.
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The two advertised jobs, based in McAllen and Brownsville, will pay between $53,062 and $138,790, according to a posting to a federal jobs website.

The ideal candidates for the positions “will have at least four years of civil litigation experience [dealing with] land condemnation cases, oil and gas disputes, and real estate matters,” the posting reads. "Spanish language proficiency is helpful," the ad says, "but not required."

The attorneys likely will deal with eminent domain property seizures and quarrels with landowners over what their land is worth, according to Chris Rickerd, the American Civil Liberties Union’s senior policy counsel on border and immigration issues.
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