AZMEX UPDATE2 6-3-18

AZMEX UPDATE2 6 MAR 2018


State Land Commissioner Dunn demands feds pay for border right of way
By Angela Kocherga / Journal Staff Writer - Las Cruces Bureau
Published: Tuesday, March 6th, 2018 at 1:11pm
Updated: Tuesday, March 6th, 2018 at 4:38pm
https://www.abqjournal.com/1142070/state-land-commissioner-dunn-demands-feds-pay-for-right-of-way.html

State Land Commissioner Dunn demands feds pay for border right of way
New Mexico State Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn, at the site where he posted a no trespassing sign. Dunn is demanding the U.S. government pay for the right of way for a one-mile stretch of the border barrier built on state trust lands. (Angela Kocherga/Albuquerque Journal)

SANTA TERESA — New Mexico State Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn stood at the border fence, drill in hand, on a dirt road used by U.S. Border Patrol agents and posted a no trespassing sign Tuesday.
"They do not have access to come across our lands now," said Dunn, referring to the federal government.

Dunn came to the New Mexico border to demand the U.S. government pay for the right of way for a one-mile stretch where the border barrier was built on state trust lands.

"We'd like to bring attention to the border wall and the federal government taking away property rights without paying for it," Dunn said.

Commissioner Dunn sent a letter to Homeland Security on Feb. 15 in which he wrote, "I launched an investigation which revealed that the federal government has installed a border wall, infrastructure, and roads on state lands without the state authorization and without compensation to the state trust."

The border land just east of the Santa Teresa Port of Entry was granted to the Territory of New Mexico under the 1898 Ferguson Act. It predates a 1907 proclamation by President Theodore Roosevelt reserving a 60 foot strip of land for the federal government on the border "as a protection against smuggling of goods between the United States and Mexico."

New Mexico is seeking $19,200 for the 60 foot easement on the border land held in trust for New Mexico public schools.

"What we're after today is that we get compensation for the schools because that's who we represent," Dunn said.

New Mexico's Land Commissioner sent a letter to Homeland Security and Border Patrol asking they work out an agreement to obtain the right of way.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it is "diligently evaluating the concerns outlined by the New Mexico Land Commissioner's Office" in a statement released by the agency in Washington.

"CBP values its relationship with the New Mexico state trust lands. An important part of CBP's strategy to successfully secure the nation's borders includes developing and leveraging partnerships and dialogue with state and local stakeholders to ensure that the unique operational needs of each region are effectively met," according to the statement.

After Dunn posted the no trespassing sign, Assistant Commissioner Kris McNeil stretched yellow and red plastic tape from the sign across the road used by Border Patrol agents and tied it to the border fence.
"I'm sure it will end up being more symbolic than keeping the Border Patrol off of it. But they do not have access to come across our lands now. I think only in the event if they were in an actual chase," Dunn said.

Mick Rich, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, called closing New Mexico land to U.S. Border Patrol agents "a dangerous stunt" in a statement released by his campaign office.
"Aubrey Dunn should be ashamed of himself," Rich said. "He's endangering New Mexico's border region residents just to get his name in the paper."

Dunn is running for U.S. Senate as a Libertarian. (?)
Both candidates are challenging the Democratic incumbent Martin Heinrich.

Commissioner Dunn said, "hopefully we can work this out in the next sixty days." Otherwise, he said New Mexico might fence off state trust lands and tear down the border wall.
"If need be we can take the wall down because it's illegally on state trust lands," said Dunn.

END