Thread by @TexasTribune

1/ President Trump is expected to declare a national emergency soon to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The government would have to seize a lot of land to do this. That didn't end well for many Texans the last time that happened.

From 2017: bit.ly/2RBTX7G

2/ Federal officials cut unfair deals, secretly waived legal safeguards for property owners, and abused eminent domain to acquire land from Texas landowners in the Rio Grande Valley more than a decade ago. bit.ly/2RBTX7G

3/ Eminent domain is a process that should take years.

But in 2008, Homeland Security snapped up 564 acres in the Rio Grande Valley in mere months. bit.ly/2RBTX7G

4/ DHS gave landowners just 30 days to make a deal before the government would go after their land by force.

They should have had time to fight, but they didn’t. bit.ly/2RBTX7G

5/ In less than a year, Homeland Security filed more than 360 lawsuits against property owners.

They used a legal loophole so the agency wouldn’t have to formally appraise the land, making lowball offers based on substandard estimates instead.

bit.ly/2RBTX7G

6/ The government paid retired teacher Juan Cavazos $21,500 for his land.

He couldn’t afford a lawyer to fight for more.

But other landowners who could afford lawyers got deals that, on average, *tripled* the opening bids. bit.ly/2RBTX7G

7/ Sometimes, the government paid people for property they didn’t own.

Other times, it condemned land without identifying an owner or researching basic facts about the property. bit.ly/2RBTX7G

8/ The deals were so rushed the government paid the wrong people.

Roberto Pedraza was paid $20,500 for land he didn’t own.

He got to keep the money. bit.ly/2RBTX7G

9/ Some Texas Republicans are supportive of the national emergency.

Some have even suggested letting Texas build a wall.

But the last time the federal government dropped a bunch of border fence money in Texas and walked away, one man got very rich.

bit.ly/2GQOtjR

10/ So you want to make millions?

Here’s how — in just four steps.

Step 1. Allow Homeland Security to build the border fence on top of crumbling dirt levees in your drainage district *IF* the feds agree to pay to fix the levees. bit.ly/2GQOtjR

11/ Step 2. Don’t tell the feds that — in addition to your six-figure salary — you earn 1.5 percent of every dollar your drainage district spends on the levee project.

Yep — that adds up.

bit.ly/2GQOtjR

12/ Step 3. Allow the engineering firm you hire to subcontract with a company owned by your children — and later your wife. bit.ly/2GQOtjR

13/ Step 4.

PROFIT! bit.ly/2GQOtjR

14/ Here's the story: A decade ago, the federal government rushed to construct 60 miles of barrier in the Rio Grande Valley. bit.ly/2GQOtjR

15/ The feds entrusted the chief of a little-known local agency to execute a compromise project.

What it didn’t know was that he — and his family — stood to make millions from it. bit.ly/2GQOtjR

16/ We've been talking with landowners along the border.

Here's what they are saying. bit.ly/2GPbXG1

17/ A speech teacher said she's already received letters from the government wanting to survey her land in Starr County. She's frustrated by a national emergency.

“I hope it’s an eye-opener for everybody to realize he’s not in his full state of mind.”

bit.ly/2GPbXG1

18/ Yvette Gaytan, who also lives near the border, said she wants to know what will happen to her family’s land.

"I don’t know if I’m more in shock, or it’s kind of this sense of doom. It’s happening." bit.ly/2GPbXG1