Texas rancher wants border wall on his property to protect him after multiple ... trends now
A rancher in Texas wants the state to pay him before erecting a border all through his property despite falling victim to several migrant break ins.
Dr. Gary Schwarz, an oral surgeon from the Rio Grande Valley, owns a deer hunting and bass fishing ranch called La Perla in rural west Zapata County situated along Highway 83 - three miles from the United States-Mexico Border.
The 71-year-old gets the water for his ranch from the strip of land he owns that leads to the Rio Grande - which is exactly where the state wants to build its border wall.
Texas has already received permission from two neighbors north of him to erect the 30-foot-tall metal bollards across his riverfront land.
The rancher said he understands the need for more security but wants 'fair compensation' from the state if he agrees to letting them put a wall on his property.
Dr. Gary Schwarz (pictured), a 71-year-old, local rancher wants the State of Texas to provide him with better border security after several migrant break ins - but at a cost
Schwarz has been the victim of several illegal migrant crossings as well as a break-in to his ranch, La Perla (Pictured: Texas National Guard conducts operation using non-lethal weapons, specifically a pepper spray gun, to disperse migrants maintaining a camp within the Rio Grande)
Construction for the border wall began in March under the Texas Facilities Commission. This is the first segment of border wall to be built Zapata County, which only has a population of 14,000 (Pictured: A drone view shows the U.S. in the background as members of the Army National Guard and Texas State Troopers patrol the bank of the Rio Grande river)
'I think they should pay me a reasonable premium as a business would; that's No. 1,' he told Border Report.
And per the Constitution, Schwarz is guaranteed compensation when private property is acquired for public use.
'Just compensation is based on the fair market value of the land taken, typically determined by unit prices of comparable sales,' said Elaine Y. Lee and Michael H. Wallenstein from Pillsbury Law.
'In simple terms, if similar land in the area of your property sells for, say, $50,000 - $75,000 an acre, the value of your land will likely be based on that unit price times the number of acres taken, subject to adjustments for various factors such as development potential, size, access, shape, topography and others.'
But compensation is not limited to the value of land taken.
'Accordingly you should be entitled to damages for the amount of the decreased value of that land. You may also be entitled to compensation for the amount of any reduced value of the land north of the wall,' said Lee and Wallenstein.
