Will The Wall Be Built? Trump Will Seize Private Property From Americans On The Border

Despite a looming government shutdown over President Donald Trump's proposed border wall, American property owners living in the U.S.-Mexico region said they’ve been warned of a new neighbor arriving in their own backyards in just a matter of time.

U.S. residents near the Rio Grande received letters in the weeks ahead of Trump's presidency called Declarations of Taking. The binding documents, sent to landowners by the Department of Homeland Security, informed the residents they would be paid to have portions of their land used by the federal government under Trump to fulfill his campaign promise of building a wall across the southern border.

Read: Stopping Border Immigration: As Trump Builds His Wall, A Battle Wages Over Human Rights Conflicts

If residents refuse to sign away their land in a Declaration of Taking, the government could still seize their property through eminent domain loopholes.

Yvette Salinas, a Texan who received one of the official letters a week before Trump took office, described a state of shock when she initially read the 21-page document.

"It’s scary when you read it, you feel like you have to sign," Salinas told the Texas Observer in a report published Wednesday. "We don’t want this wall — the town is pretty much united on that, but we don’t want to get sued by the U.S. government either."

Salinas said she and other local residents don’t believe Trump’s border wall – projected to cost nearly $20 billion – will do much to prevent illegal immigration from taking place throughout the region.

Meanwhile, Democrats were warning they will allow a government shutdown to occur if Republicans tie border wall funding into must-pass legislation in the following weeks.

"If they put those poison pill amendments in and try to shove them down the American people’s throats, of course they might be responsible for shutting the government down," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Tuesday. "To stick it on a must-pass bill, just like defunding Planned Parenthood, would be a huge mistake and they would be responsible for shutting the government down."