Federal Government Moves to Seize 14 Acres from Catholic Diocese to Build Border Wall at Mount Cristo Rey

What's Happening

The Trump administration wants to build new border fencing along the base of Mount Cristo Rey, a 720-foot mountain that sits on New Mexico's side of the southwestern border, northwest of El Paso, Texas. To do it, the Department of Homeland Security sued the Diocese of Las Cruces in federal court, seeking to seize 14 acres of church-owned desert under eminent domain.

The government's offered price: $183,071. The diocese says no amount makes the seizure acceptable.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection says in court documents it needs the land to "construct, install, operate, and maintain roads, fencing, vehicle barriers, security lighting, cameras, sensors, and related structures," according to Angelus News. The agency has separately acknowledged that the Mount Cristo Rey area is a well-documented route for drug smuggling and human trafficking.

The Religious Freedom Argument

Atop that mountain sits a 29-foot carved limestone statue of Christ, placed there in 1940. Every fall, according to the Texas Tribune, up to 40,000 people make a pilgrimage to the summit, some of them barefoot, some on their knees, covering roughly five miles of mountain terrain. The Diocese of Las Cruces and the Diocese of El Paso jointly host a mass at the top.

The diocese filed a counterclaim arguing the seizure violates the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. "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 stated in court documents reviewed by the Texas Tribune.

In a legal brief filed last Friday, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the diocese included testimony from local bishops and stated flatly: "The wall is a physical manifestation of this government's attitude toward migrants. Nothing could be less Catholic."

Deacon Jim Winder, chancellor of the diocese, told the Inquirer: "This is not a battle between the church and the government; it's a battle between symbols. One is a 29-foot statue of Christ the King, which is meant to symbolize unity and hope, and the other is a 30-foot iron monstrosity that symbolizes exclusion and division."

Where the Court Stands

On June 15, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Gonzales ruled that the government can deposit the $183,071 into the court, according to Angelus News. The diocese had tried to block even that step, arguing it would pre-judge the merits of the taking. Judge Gonzales disagreed, writing that the deposit would "not interfere with, alter, or nullify" the diocese's right to challenge the seizure, and that transferring title "is in no way a final or irrevocable action."

That ruling is a procedural setback for the diocese, not a final verdict on the First Amendment claims.

The Security Case Is Real

CBP has identified Mount Cristo Rey as a high-traffic corridor for illegal crossings, drug loads, and human smuggling operations. The mountain's terrain offers concealment and the gap in existing fencing is documented. Ruben Escandon Jr., a spokesperson for the Mount Cristo Rey Restoration Committee, an independent volunteer group that maintains the site and is NOT affiliated with the diocese, told the Texas Tribune that he supports adding barriers in the area specifically because he wants to keep the public safe from criminal activity there.

That's a legitimate security concern, and it comes from someone whose entire purpose is protecting the mountain and the people who visit it.

The Tension

The administration's problem is not the security goal. It's the method. The government has argued broad authority over wall construction since Trump's first term, but opponents have won some limited battles. The Inquirer notes that U.S. Customs and Border Protection had to revise plans near Big Bend National Park in Texas earlier this year after bipartisan congressional pushback.

U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, said in a statement reported by the Texas Tribune: "There are a number of other ways to provide border security. Instead, the Trump administration prefers to destroy this sacred site." The diocese made essentially the same point in its legal filings, saying it had pleaded with the administration to consider alternatives before the lawsuit was filed.

Whether viable alternatives actually exist that achieve the same operational effect, and why CBP rejected them, has NOT been addressed in any of the public court filings reviewed for this article.

What Comes Next

The June 15 deposit ruling keeps the government's timeline moving, but the diocese's First Amendment and religious liberty claims remain live and unresolved. No trial date has been set, according to available reporting. The diocese's legal brief filed last Friday lays out those constitutional arguments in full. The core question is whether eminent domain can override the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act at a documented pilgrimage site. That question has not been decided in this context before, and the answer will set precedent well beyond one mountain in New Mexico.