Taking the Land for the Wall Will Be a Nightmare

To build his border wall, President Trump will first have to go through the second hole of the River Bend Resort & Golf Club in Brownsville, Texas. The course, on 135 acres, is so close to the U.S.-Mexico border that the Rio Grande keeps the fairway green, and Border Patrol agents congregate near the clubhouse to nab drug smugglers trying to slip through. “On some of these holes you can hit a power fade and your ball needs a passport because it goes into Mexico,” says Jeremy Barnard, general manager of the resort co-owned by his father, Mark.

Along with a potential lack of concrete and documented construction workers, one of the main hurdles Trump will face is the use of eminent domain—taking land from private owners for public use. Federal and tribal lands make up only one-third of the 2,000-mile southern border, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Private and state-owned lands constitute the rest, primarily in Texas. Using eminent domain to build a wall could lead to costly, time-consuming negotiations, potentially with hundreds of private landowners. “They’re going to have to deal with guys like us,” says Mark Barnard.