Thread by @TexasTribune

1/ The @WashingtonPost reported this week that Trump directed aides to fast-track contracts & seize private lands to build a border wall.

This did not end well for Texans the last time land was seized for a wall.

We reported w/ @ProPublica in 2017: bit.ly/2RBTX7G

@washingtonpost @propublica 2/ Our investigation found 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. bit.ly/2RBTX7G

@washingtonpost @propublica 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

@washingtonpost @propublica 4/ DHS back then 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

@washingtonpost @propublica 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

@washingtonpost @propublica 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

@washingtonpost @propublica 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

@washingtonpost @propublica 8/8 And sometimes, 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