It is, at times, difficult to sift through the political language and bias that comes with reports related to the proposed barrier to be erected at the U.S. southern border. Two terms are often repeated that will be familiar to professional land surveyors: property rights and eminent domain. Regardless of where you stand on whether the barrier should be built, when it comes to property rights and eminent domain, you have to agree that the survey should come first.

Only about one-third of the land that would be used for the barrier is owned by the U.S. government or Native American tribes, according to the Government Accountability Office. As the Secure Fence Act of 2006 demonstrated, there will be resistance from private property owners. It is estimated that, of approximately 400 condemnation cases (eminent domain) from that effort, 90 were not resolved a decade later, and as recently as last September, 85 cases still remained open.