Laredo orphanage allows government to survey land for future border wall

By Julia Wallace, LMTonline.com / Laredo Morning Times

On May 19, Sacred Heart Children’s Home came to an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security allowing them to survey their 68-acre property in south Laredo to determine the feasibility of building a border wall through it.

This decision came off the heals of a viral moment for the 113-year-old orphanage and the congregation of Catholic sisters who run it. Laredo Morning Times published an article last month detailing that the Trump administration had filed a lawsuit against Sacred Heart to condemn their land for these surveys, a story that Newsweek published two weeks ago bringing more national attention to the subject. And Faithful America, a Christian social justice group, then created a petition for the Department of Justice to drop their lawsuit against Sacred Heart. It has been signed by over 18,000 people.

“I think that the sisters were really feeling a lot, a lot of pressure,” Rio Grande International Study Center Executive Director Tricia Cortez told reporters on a press call last week.

The orphanage is one of 24 Laredo properties that has been sued by the government for the right of entry, Cortez noted, the largest of which is nearly 1,000 acres owned by the City of Laredo.

For some of these property owners, taking the government to court is a delay tactic that pushes back the Trump administration’s schedule to get as much of the wall up as they can before the November election. Their thought being that maybe, if Trump is not re-elected, the government would not follow through on construction in Webb and Zapata counties.

The City of Laredo has filed a motion arguing that the construction of a border wall in Webb and Zapata counties is congressionally unauthorized. If their argument proves sound before a judge, it would also be an applicable defense for the rest of the landowners fighting against the wall in the area.

A construction contract has already been awarded to build 14 miles of wall in Laredo, from the upper northwest corner of the city near El Pico Road all the way down to the railroad bridge downtown, a Customs and Border Protection official confirmed with LMT. This construction would begin in January 2021, pending the government’s acquisition of property.

The orphanage

Houston attorney Beto Cardenas grew up in Laredo and served as general counsel to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison from 2005-09. During this time, he helped write a piece of legislation amending the Secure Fence Act of 2006 for the 2007 appropriations bill regarding the government’s consultation with landowners for border wall construction.

He’s now a tax attorney but has come back to the wall issue, taking up the Sacred Heart case pro bono and helping them come to an agreement on the right of entry with the government.

“The approach that they had is that this is a preliminary step in the process,” Cardenas said. “And given the mission of the orphanage and the work the sisters do, their intent is not to cause friction or impede a process but rather to insure that their rights are respected and that those children they serve are fulfilled.”

In their agreement with the DHS, the sisters have given surveyors 12 months to complete their work. They may not use the front entrance to access the property, and they may not speak or mingle with any of the children who live there.

Cardenas said this is the non-contentious way of going about this, the hope being that the government will see the value of what the orphanage does and avoids a future condemnation proceeding for construction.

“(The sisters) are not looking to be at the center of attention. The kids are their center of attention,” Cardenas said.

And this property, their campus, has been part of the spiritual and human growth of Laredo’s children for decades, he said. One of its great assets — its natural beauty — would be compromised by a border wall.

“I think that anybody who can empathize with the situation can reflect on this: If you’ve been out to the orphanage, it’s a lot of acreage and you have a large amount of space,” Cardenas said. “Picture yourself as a child that has been orphaned, neglected, abused or abandoned. This is now your home, this is your refuge. And one of the beautiful things that you’re able to do is visualize your future, your dreams or anything else at your home. And you have a beautiful riverfront to do so.

“How can you compensate for and how do you measure taking that away from children who have already lost so much.”

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar told reporters this week that he intends to insert language in the next appropriations bill that would protect Sacred Heart Children’s Home from border wall construction, along with designated historical sites such as the city of San Ygnacio.

“Having the Trump administration against orphans is not a good picture, in my opinion, so I want to make sure we protect them,” he said.