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Feds Sue Local Landowners For Access to Their Border Property

By Amy Isackson / Border Reporter,  KPBS Public Broadcasting
Published February 8, 2008 at 2:32 PM PST
This story was published more than 16 years ago.

The U.S. government is suing two landowners in Imperial County for access to their properties along the U.S.-Mexico border. The government wants to survey the land in preparation for building more fen

Feds Sue Local Landowners For Access to Their Border Property

The U.S. government is suing two landowners in Imperial County for access to their properties along the U.S.-Mexico border. The government wants to survey the land in preparation for building more fencing along the border. KPBS reporter Amy Isackson has the story.

The lawsuits are the first against California landowners.

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The government has filed 47 more against people in Arizona and Texas.

Department of Homeland Security officials say there'll be 102 in all, with 20 total in California.

The government wants access to the border properties for about three months.

During that time, they'll send in contractors to survey the terrain in preparation for possibly building more border fencing, roads and structures government officials say will help secure the border.

A federal judge in San Diego ordered the landowner in one case to grant the government access.

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The other case is still pending.

The landowner would not speak on the record.

The lawsuits have riled people in Texas and Arizona. Many fear they'll lose property that's been in their families for centuries.

Amy Isackson, KPBS News.

Amy Isackson
Amy Isackson was the border reporter at KPBS from 2004 to 2011. She covered breaking news and feature stories on California-Mexico border issues and immigration, for local and national broadcast. Amy got her start in public radio by pitching a series of stories about rural New Zealand - horse dentistry and sheep sheering - to Radio New Zealand's "Country Life" program. She then worked with Peabody Award-winning radio producers Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson, to help create the Sonic Memorial, a series of stories on the World Trade Center before, during and after 9/11. Amy's work has been recognized with awards from the Associated Press Television-Radio Association of California and Nevada, the California Chicano News Media Association, and the San Diego Press Club. She won the Sol Price Prize for Responsible Journalism in 2009 from the Society of Professional Journalists for her story about high school students smuggling people and drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border. Prior to venturing into the wonderful world of public radio, Amy worked for Yahoo! Inc. for nearly five years as an editorial surfer, associate producer and broadcast communications manager. She majored in Latin American History at Williams College. She grew up in San Diego and made frequent trips south of the border.
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