The Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces, N.M., is fighting the Trump administration’s attempt to seize a portion of its property to build a border wall.
The federal government has its eye on a stretch along the southern base of Mount Cristo Rey, a site topped by a 29-foot limestone statue of Jesus visited by 40,000 people a year. The diocese said the proposed seizure by eminent domain would desecrate the holy site and violate the diocese’s religious freedom. The site is located in far southeastern New Mexico near El Paso.
“The erection of a border wall through or along this holy site could irreparably damage its religious and cultural sanctity, obstruct pilgrimage routes and transfer sacred space into a symbol of division,” the diocese said in court documents filed May 8, National Catholic Reporter reported. “Seizing the land or constructing physical barriers would ‘constitute a significant infringement on religious freedom and the rights of worship, which are protected under both the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.’”
The diocese explained that tens of thousands of barefoot pilgrims converge on the site each fall to observe the Feast of Christ the King. The gathering, which is known as Cristo Rey in Spanish, includes a Catholic Mass.
Kathyrn Brack Morrow
“The United States government’s effort to use expedited procedures to condemn diocesan land to build a border wall is an affront to religious liberty,” said Kathryn Brack Morrow, an attorney representing the diocese, in a statement reported by Religion News Service. “The diocese will use all legal tools at its dispose to stop these heavy-handed tactics.”
The mountain is the only major section of land along the border without a fence and is considered by the government to be an avenue for human smuggling.
“This is an example of religious freedom — the ability to have this pilgrimage,” said Franciscan Brother Joseph Bach, leader of an immigrant accompaniment ministry based in Las Cruces. “And if (President Donald Trump is) taking that sacred site away, then he’s taking away the people’s freedom to exercise their faith.”
According to Source New Mexico, an independent, nonprofit news organization, U.S. Customs and Border Protection first announced its intention to build a wall along Mount Cristo last summer.
The government initially identified a 1.3-mile section it wanted to seize but on May 7 increased that to 14 acres of the diocese’s property along the border with Mexico.
“According to the filings, the land would be used to build roads, fences and other structures to ‘help secure’ the border,” Source NM reported. “In separate filings, the government said it would offer the diocese $180,000 for the property, which government lawyers said was the fair market value of the land.”
But the diocese’s attorneys at the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University Law Center requested a judge delay the deposit and land title transfer.
“The diocese has consistently conveyed that condemnation of the property would substantially burden the free exercise of religion by the diocese and the faithful who seek to commune with God on Mount Cristo Rey,” the attorneys said in court documents.