Add to that:
McNamara stressed that Congress would be key to any claim of eminent domain.
“There’s obviously a debate about whether Congress has authorized the ‘emergency’ use of funds to construct the wall, but in the context of eminent domain, the courts have been clear that uncertainty about whether Congress has authorized eminent domain has to be resolved in favor of the property owner, not in favor of the government,” he said.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-border-wall-eminent-domain-191651556.html
Settled in favor of the landowner? That would be news to Susette Kelo.
Watch and see.
“the courts have been clear that uncertainty about whether Congress has authorized eminent domain has to be resolved in favor of the property owner”
There is no such uncertainty.
Congress has passed laws that grant the Executive Branch broad authority to determine what is in the public interest, since the condemnation of 1888. Powers were expanded under the New Deal, and specific authority for taking border lands has been written into several laws.
It was widely done under the 2006 Secure Fence Act (the Bush-era barrier program).
The Declaration of Taking Act, passed during the Roosevelt Administration, when they were hot to emulate their fascist role models in Europe (in Roosevelt’s very first cabinet meeting, they distributed books by Giovanni Gentile, who was called “the Philosopher of Facism”, and ghostwrote some of Mussolinis works).
The Declaration of Taking Act allows the Executive Branch to seize private property the same day, simply by issuing a “Declaration of Taking”. Former owners can go to the courts to settle the amount of compensation, but construction can begin immediately, enforceable at the barrel of a (police) gun.
The Trump Administration has gone to great lengths to contact property owners long in advance, and prepare careful appraisals for value.
Of the approximately 400 private property owners impacted in the approximately 100 miles contracted for construction in the RGV, some unknown number have already settled.
In the first few months of the administration, explicit guidance was given to ensure that adequate funds were budgeted for compensation of landowners - one of the big lessons learned from the Bush-era program. The overall cost estimate for the border wall was raised by several billion dollars during that period (upgraded specifications for the barrier system were also contributors to that increase).
In the end however, the Federal Government (Executive Branch) can pull up with a construction crew, a border Patrol Officer, and a piece of paper, any day of the week, and get right to work.