Trump Administration Moves to Seize Catholic Pilgrimage Site for Border Wall

Mount Cristo Rey has drawn Catholic pilgrims for decades, particularly from El Paso and neighboring Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and is managed by the Diocese of El Paso. The site is considered one of the more prominent pilgrimage destinations in the American Southwest. The Trump administration has pursued an aggressive land acquisition strategy along the southern border to advance barrier construction, at times invoking eminent domain authority. Religious and cultural institutions situated in border corridors have periodically come into conflict with federal infrastructure priorities, though legal outcomes in such disputes have varied.