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Video: How Does The Government Use Eminent Domain To Seize Land From Texans?

KERA | By Kiah Collier, Texas Tribune
Published January 1, 2019 at 1:04 AM CST
Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune

The government has the power to seize land from citizens to build things like schools, roads and border walls although it is required to fairly compensate them. 

That power is more limited at the local and state level, where officials have enacted policies to protect landowners. Meanwhile, the federal government could feasibly take private land and begin building on it the same day — and pay the property owner later.

The Texas Tribune partnered with the education publisher Pearson to explain to Texas students how the process works:

https://youtu.be/NRapkFLszVo

Related Tribune coverage:

The Texas Tribune provided this story, which is part of its Texplainer series.

Copyright 2020 KERA. To see more, visit .

Kiah Collier, Texas Tribune
Kiah Collier reports on energy and the environment for the Tribune, where she began working in July 2015. Since graduating from the University of Texas at Austin in 2009 with degrees in philosophy and multimedia journalism, Kiah has reported on government and politics for publications across the state, including the Austin-American Statesman and the Houston Chronicle. A Central Texas native, Kiah began her career at the San Angelo Standard-Times in West Texas, where she covered the city council and 83rd Legislature and won awards for her reporting on the oil-and-gas boom and prolific drought. When she is not reporting the news, Kiah enjoys consuming the news, cooking, exercising and belly laughing with friends and family. She also enjoys spending time with her calico cat, Carol.
See stories by Kiah Collier, Texas Tribune