OBP004579

From: (b) (6)

To: (b) (6)

Subject: Another Landowner Article

Date: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 10:58:33 AM
Attachments: (b) (6)
Importance: High

The article below is another example where the reporting doesn’t align with our records, or accurately
represent the action.

SUMMARY OF NEGOTIATOR’S REPORT:

The owner of record is (b) (6)

OBP agents met with him on 11/27/07, and he indicated he gave the property to his (b) (6)
He would not give the agents (b) contact info, so the senior agent left his business card with (b) (6)
asking him to have his (b) (6) (6)contact OBP.
(b) never made contact, and in parallel, the Corps worked to find her using internet search engines
and could not do so.
(6)
The notification letter was mailed to (b) (6) on 12/07/07, and he did receive it. Even after receipt by
the (b) (owner of record), (b) (6) never contacted the corps.
(6)
The DT has been filed and is one of the cases scheduled for a possession hearing before Judge Crane
in the McAllen Division.

Note: the burden on the government is to make reasonable efforts to contact the owner(s) of record
prior to filing the DT, and in this case both DOJ and the court obviously agreed that that standard was
met.

(b) (6)
Secure Border Initiative
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
(b) (6)
For more information about the Secure Border Initiative, visit www.cbp.gov/sbi or contact us at SBI info@dhs.gov.

Sued landowner fights back against border

fence surveys
Jeremy Roebuck
February 5, 2008 - 6:59PM
The Monitor
McALLEN — A Los Ebanos landowner claims federal authorities broke law when they sued
to access property she owns in the path of a proposed border fence.

Attorneys for Pamela Rivas, 47, argue existing federal statutes require the government to
negotiate with property owners before starting condemnation proceedings against the land.

Rivas refused to sign a waiver last year when U.S. Border Patrol agents sought access to
three acres of her land, her attorney said in a written statement Tuesday.

“It is ridiculous that the federal government, with all its resources and attorneys, cannot
manage to comply with federal statutes,” said Robert Doggett, a Texas RioGrande Legal Aid
OBP004580

attorney representing Rivas. “Either they are completely incompetent, or totally arrogant.”

Rivas is among nearly 50 Texas landowners the federal government has sued this year for
access to plots in Eagle Pass, as well as Hidalgo, Cameron and Starr counties. Federal judges
have sided with the government in each case that has gone to court.

Plans call for 370 miles of border fence and 300 miles of vehicle barriers to go up along the
southern U.S. border — from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean — by the end of this
year.

No court date has been set in Rivas’ case.