Trump Seizure Of Private Land For Border Wall Should Be Investigated - US Senators

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th August, 2019) The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) should launch an investigation into the Trump administration's efforts to seize private lands to build its border wall, Senators Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer, Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich said in a letter.

"[The senators] have sent a letter to US Comptroller General Gene Dodaro requesting that the GAO investigate the Trump Administration's efforts to exercise the power of eminent domain to seize privately held land to build a border wall," the letter said on Wednesday.

The Senators, who are all Democrats, wrote that despite repeated requests from Congress, the administration has failed to give specific data on its eminent domain efforts, including how many people will have their land seized and definitive real estate costs.

"Given that 67 percent of the land along the southwest border belongs to entities other than the Federal government, we are troubled by this lack of transparency," the senators said.

The senators also asked how much private land the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must acquire in order to complete its planned southern border wall or barrier deployments.