U.S. Border Patrol Liable for Placement of Underground Sensors on Private Land Along Border

Today, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims held the U.S. Border Patrol liable for the physical taking of an easement over private property adjacent to the United States/Mexico border in the Otay Mesa area of San Diego County, California. Otay Mesa Property, L.P. v. United States, No.06-167L. Without the owners’ permission, the U.S. Border Patrol buried numerous motion sensors on private land located adjacent to the United States and Mexican border, and entered onto the private property when the sensors indicated movement of potential illegal aliens on the property. “The government should be liable for the taking of an easement for this property since it now uses this property on a daily basis to carry out its important border monitoring activities associated with the placement of these underground sensors,” explained counsel for the landowners, Nancie G. Marzulla. “Now, the government will have to pay for the easement that it has physically taken on this valuable development property.” The court rejected the Government’s argument that the statute of limitations had run on some of the claims because of a 1984 letter from the Border Patrol to the County of San Diego that generally referenced buried sensors in the general Otay Mesa area...Marzulla Law