The ideal candidates for the positions “will have at least four years of civil litigation experience [dealing with] land condemnation cases, oil and gas disputes, and real estate matters,” the posting reads. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images immigration DOJ hiring attorneys to handle property seizures for border wall

The Justice Department placed an online job posting for a pair of attorneys to tackle border wall litigation in South Texas — a sign of coming property seizures and other legal controversies that President Donald Trump anticipates if he plows ahead with his signature project.

Trump has demanded that Congress provide $5.7 billion to build more than 200 miles of new and replacement barriers along the border. But those efforts will likely run into opposition from local landowners, environmentalists and Native American tribes.


The federal government has been partially shut down for 27 days over Trump’s $5.7 billion border wall request, but the administration already faces thorny lawsuits from border residents who have resisted wall construction. High-profile cases in South Texas involve a butterfly sanctuary and the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville, which owns property with a small chapel in the path of planned wall construction.

That’s where the lawyers come into play.

The two advertised jobs, based in McAllen and Brownsville, will pay between $53,062 and $138,790, according to a posting to a federal jobs website.

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The ideal candidates for the positions “will have at least four years of civil litigation experience [dealing with] land condemnation cases, oil and gas disputes, and real estate matters,” the posting reads. "Spanish language proficiency is helpful," the ad says, "but not required."

The attorneys likely will deal with eminent domain property seizures and quarrels with landowners over what their land is worth, according to Chris Rickerd, the American Civil Liberties Union’s senior policy counsel on border and immigration issues.

“I think there’s a vision that people are seeking injunctions against bulldozers, but that’s not really the legal landscape here,” he said. “The core of it is taking land from private property owners and litigating the compensation.”

If property owners fight back, cases can last more than a decade, but the law tilts heavily in favor of the government, according to Rickerd.

“[People] assume that it’s a big process for the federal government to come and take someone’s land,” he said. “In fact, legally, the government has a lot of power in this area. And the recourse is very limited.”

The Justice Department, which is short-staffed because of the shutdown, did not respond to a request for comment. The jobs were first posted online in December and applications close on March 5.

While Trump hasn’t procured major wall funding, Congress passed a spending bill last year that gave $1.4 billion to construct an estimated 84 miles of new and replacement barriers, according to the Homeland Security Department. In fiscal year 2017, the administration received $341 million for 40 miles of replacement fence. The president’s budget proposals have requested millions for civil litigation positions that deal with immigration issues, such as land seizure.

In one of the ongoing legal fights, the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville has contested an attempt by the federal government to survey its property. The diocese argues the land survey — the first step in an eminent domain seizure — will impinge on religious freedom. The chapel on the property, called La Lomita, was first built in 1865 and still draws worshipers for religious holidays and special events.

In a declaration to the court, the diocese argued that a border wall would run counter to Catholic teachings of universality and openness. In addition, the diocese asserts that border militarization threatens human life.

The Homeland Security Department under Trump has waived dozens of environmental, endangered species and historic preservation laws to forge ahead with construction of barriers. In the case of the La Lomita construction, however, it hasn’t yet waived the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which states the government “shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion.” The diocese has made the law a central part of its argument.

The proposed border wall also would leave the chapel trapped between the wall and the U.S.-Mexico border in an enforcement zone, according to Mary McCord, a visiting law professor at the Georgetown University Law Center who represents the diocese.

“So you would then have this chapel, which is supposed to be a place for prayer and contemplation and religions retreats, sitting there essentially under the spotlights, clear-cut of vegetation, heavily surveilled, right within this enforcement zone,” she said.