Border Patrol Wants Family's Hayfield

According to the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution….NO person shall be…deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without JUST compensation.

Apparently there some people at the Department of Homeland Security and the United States Custom and Border Protection who are not aware of this part of the very document they have sworn to uphold.

In the small town of Morses Line, Vermont – which shares a border with the Canadian province of Quebec – is the Rainville farm, a 220 acre spread that services some 80 dairy cows. Situated on the farm is the Morses Line Port of Entry which services an average of 2.5 cars per hour.

After receiving money from the federal government to upgrade and improve various border entry points. Border Patrol and Homeland Security have the tiny Morses Line office on the upgrade list. In order to upgrade the World War II facility, CBP would have to purchase 1.5 acres of land from the Rainvilles which is currently used to grow hay to feed the cows. The Rainvilles have received a letter from the government stating that unless the family sold their hayfield for $39,500 the Army Corps of Engineers would seize the land under eminent domain.

"The arrogance of it is breathtaking," said Brian Rainville. If the Rainvilles are forced to sell the hayfield that feeds the cows, the family could easily lose the farm which operated at a loss last year. The current hayfield produces the hay necessary to feed the cows; at $3.25 per bale of hay if purchased the money made from the sale of the land would not last long. Brian Rainville said that the family is barely hanging on now and losing the hayfield would break them.