The Trump administration is asking a federal court in New Mexico to seize land near Mount Cristo Rey for border barriers, setting up a legal fight over how far border-security measures can reach into a site the Catholic Church calls a sacred space. The administration filed the lawsuit last week, seeking to take 14 acres at the bottom of the mountain as part of efforts to secure what it calls a high-traffic corridor for human smuggling near El Paso.
Mount Cristo Rey rises about 720 feet tall, with a 29-foot statue of Jesus Christ at its summit overlooking Ciudad Juárez, El Paso and Sunland Park, N.M. The government says it needs the property to install barriers and other technology “designed to help secure the United States-Mexico border,” according to court filings tied to the case.
In the lawsuit, the administration said it offered the church $183,000 for the land. The Diocese of Las Cruces, which is resisting the takeover, argues in court documents that the government’s plan infringes on its First Amendment right to religious expression.
The diocese said 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.” In a separate passage, it added that any federal action to seize the land, construct physical barriers or impede access to Mount Cristo Rey would “constitute a significant infringement on religious freedom and the rights of worship.”
Every year, up to 40,000 people travel to the mountaintop, where the Diocese of Las Cruces and El Paso host a mass. The pilgrimage traditionally falls on the last Sunday of October, though in recent years it has moved to the feast day of Christ the King in November. Some participants make the five-mile journey barefoot, while others crawl to the summit on their knees.
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, said the administration’s effort treats the site as disposable. “Seizing this community asset in order to build a border wall is consistent with the Trump administration’s blatant disregard for what communities like ours value,” Escobar said in a statement. She argued that there are “a number of other ways to provide border security,” and that the administration instead is “destroy[ing] this sacred site.”
The administration has said the area is a high-traffic route for human smuggling and wants to close a gap to stop illegal immigration. The lawsuit comes as the government increased military surveillance in parts of Texas, amid a record number of migrant deaths in the region even as the number of people crossing has dropped.
Ruben Escandon Jr., a spokesperson for the Mount Cristo Rey Restoration Committee, a volunteer group that maintains the site but is not affiliated with the church, said he supports additional barriers to keep the public safe from illegal activity. He said barrier construction would not prevent visitors from accessing the mountaintop and that “Finishing that wall, for us, will help maintain the religious, cultural and artistic aspect,” according to his remarks.
Ray Aguilar, a conservationist in Ciudad Juárez, said efforts to build more barriers would also affect wildlife and weaken cultural connections on both sides of the border. Aguilar said Cristo Rey functions as a corridor for animals that move between La Sierra de Juárez in Mexico and El Paso’s Franklin Mountains, adding that “Plants and animals don’t recognize boundaries,” so large-scale factors can put biodiversity already at risk of going extinct.
The case is the latest example of the Trump administration using eminent-domain laws to take land for border barriers, including religious and cultural sites. The government also announced earlier that it would erect barriers in Big Bend National Park, but state and local leaders, residents, environmentalists and advocates condemned those plans.