New Mexico Diocese Challenges 1-Mile DHS Land Seizure for Border Wall
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · May 13
New Mexico Diocese Challenges 1-Mile DHS Land Seizure for Border Wall
6 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 13
A New Mexico Catholic diocese asked a court to block the federal government from taking church land near El Paso for just over a mile of new border barrier.
A Friday filing said the Justice Department’s seizure—even with compensation—would burden the religious freedom of diocesan members and thousands of pilgrims who visit Mount Cristo Rey.
The disputed tract lies on the lower slopes of the border mountain in Sunland Park, home to a 29-foot limestone statue of Jesus that stands about 720 feet above the surrounding area.
The case adds to a broader fight over eminent domain for border fencing, after environmental groups, landowners and local governments won some recent limits on barrier plans, including in Big Bend National Park.
After opponents saved Big Bend's landscape, can a church now save its sacred mountain from a wall?
How does a border wall transform a sacred symbol of unity into a monument of national division?