Ranch originally settled in 1823 by one of the "Old 300" Texas pioneers who received land grants from Stephen F. Austin. Photo: The Lyda Hill Texas Collection of Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith's America Project, Library of Congress
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the Immigration Council and a former immigration lawyer, shared a job listing with the Justice Department, which could indicate the future operations of President Donald Trump's administration in Texas.
"DOJ is indeed hiring attorneys whose primary job will be filing eminent domain and condemnation cases to seize private land (mostly in Texas) on which to build [a] border wall," said Reichlin-Melnick on X.
The post reads, "The U.S. Attorney's Office is currently seeking to fill Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) positions in our San Antonio, Texas office to perform legal work pertaining to the establishment of the Border Wall, If selected the individual will be working on land condemnation matters and related cases mostly involving the border with Mexico. Duties will include owners and witness interviews, confirming land titles, property negotiations, and federal eminent domain litigation among other things. Responsibilities will increase and assignments will become more complex as your training and experience progress."
It was first flagged by Big Bend Sentinelreporter Sam Karas, who linked to the USAJobs listing.
"Hadn't thought to trawl USA Jobs for border wall stuff yet –– the DOJ is hiring AUSAs specifically to help with condemnation proceedings. $78k to sue people out of their property to build the wall, with openings in San Antonio, Laredo and McAllen," he wrote on X.
"Based on courthouse geography, I'm guessing the San Antonio person would be in charge of the Big Bend and Del Rio Sectors. That posting closes at the end of the month, so if my guess is correct, they're moving quickly to try to get land deals squared away," Karas added.
Texas residents have been fighting against the federal government's attempt to take privately owned land. In a ruling earlier this month, the Texas state Supreme Court ruled that "state agencies cannot invoke sovereign immunity to block former landowners from reclaiming property taken through eminent domain and later deemed unnecessary for public use."
It's a case that has been bubbling since 2013, when Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) attempted to buy the land to install a new road. The owners pushed back, so the government simply took the land in an eminent domain case. They backed down once the state agreed to pay $1.05 per square foot of the land. There were about 20,000 square feet of land left over from the project, and landowners want that back, but the state refused.
President Donald Trump has long promised to build a large "Wall" that would prevent people from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. That promise became more of an incomplete fence project. That project began in 2006, when former President George W. Bush erected the fences, seizing land for the project and sparking a huge battle between Texas residents and the state's former governor.
Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Ted Brown commented that he opposes eminent domain and "supports the property rights of landowners at the border."
The issue may gain traction among the candidates for the 2026 U.S. Senate election in the state as the midterms near.
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