Texas rancher wants border wall on his property to protect him after multiple migrant break-ins - but only if the state will pay him

A rancher in Texas wants the state to pay him before erecting a border all through his property despite falling victim to several migrant break ins.

Dr. Gary Schwarz, an oral surgeon from the Rio Grande Valley, owns a deer hunting and bass fishing ranch called La Perla in rural west Zapata County situated along Highway 83 - three miles from the United States-Mexico Border.

The 71-year-old gets the water for his ranch from the strip of land he owns that leads to the Rio Grande - which is exactly where the state wants to build its border wall.

Texas has already received permission from two neighbors north of him to erect the 30-foot-tall metal bollards across his riverfront land. 

The rancher said he understands the need for more security but wants 'fair compensation' from the state if he agrees to letting them put a wall on his property.

Dr. Gary Schwarz (pictured), a 71-year-old, local rancher wants the State of Texas to provide him with better border security after several migrant break ins - but at a cost

Dr. Gary Schwarz, an oral surgeon from the Rio Grande Valley, owns a deer hunting and bass fishing ranch called La Perla (pictured) in rural west Zapata County situated along Highway 83 - three miles from the United States-Mexico Border

The state has already received permission from two neighbors north of him to erect the 30-foot-tall metal bollards (pictured) across his riverfront land

'I think they should pay me a reasonable premium as a business would; that's No. 1,' he told Border Report.

And per the Constitution, Schwarz is guaranteed compensation when private property is acquired for public use.

'Just compensation is based on the fair market value of the land taken, typically determined by unit prices of comparable sales,' said Elaine Y. Lee and Michael H. Wallenstein from Pillsbury Law.

'In simple terms, if similar land in the area of your property sells for, say, $50,000 - $75,000 an acre, the value of your land will likely be based on that unit price times the number of acres taken, subject to adjustments for various factors such as development potential, size, access, shape, topography and others.'

But compensation is not limited to the value of land taken. 

'Accordingly you should be entitled to damages for the amount of the decreased value of that land. You may also be entitled to compensation for the amount of any reduced value of the land north of the wall,' said Lee and Wallenstein.

'Construction of the wall will require the government to condemn additional temporary construction easement rights on many properties. 

'The value of these rights is typically determined by the reasonable rental value of the land during the period of construction.

Schwarz has been the victim of several illegal migrant crossings as well as a break-in to his ranch, La Perla (Pictured: Texas National Guard conducts operation using non-lethal weapons, specifically a pepper spray gun, to disperse migrants maintaining a camp within the Rio Grande)

Pictured: A drone view shows migrants from South and Central America as they line up against the border wall to surrender to border officials after gaining entry from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico into El Paso, Texas

Pictured: Migrants try to cross concertina wire at the U.S.-Mexico border near El Paso, Texas

Pictured: Migrants gather as they try to enter US territory through the border razor fence in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, northern Mexico

Construction for the border wall began in March under the Texas Facilities Commission. This is the first segment of border wall to be built Zapata County, which only has a population of 14,000 (Pictured: A drone view shows the U.S. in the background as members of the Army National Guard and Texas State Troopers patrol the bank of the Rio Grande river)

'In addition, if you own or operate a business on land affected by the project, you may be entitled to certain expenses to cover the relocation of that business, even if it is only a few hundred yards to the north.'

Schwarz said he also wants the state to guarantee that he will continue to have access to his water pump and water rights in the Rio Grande.

'As an American, as a Texan, as a citizen of our country, it's essential. As a businessman, I've got things that it could really mess up,' he said. 

'It's my only source of water, my river pump for 15,000 acres of land — 3,000 of my own, eight other owners owning the rest. And we need that water.'

He has been using a snaking line that is regularly adjusted to locate the optimal water source.

Schwarz said he plans on building a permanent irrigation system with a trench that brings the water to the pump.

'But if [the state] won't let me do it, that's a game killer,' he said. 

Construction for the border wall began in March under the Texas Facilities Commission. This is the first segment of border wall to be built Zapata County, which only has a population of 14,000.

Schwarz said he's grateful for Governor Greg Abbott's Operation Lone Star border security project, which has been deploying National Guard and DPS troopers to the border since 2021. 

He said he has seen a noticeable decline in unauthorized immigration in Zapata. 

'It really makes me proud of the State of Texas Gov. Abbott and the work they're doing here,' he said.

'This is an engineering marvel. It's beautiful,' Schwarz said. 'It's opened up a visual of this drainage rio.'

And per the Constitution, Schwarz is guaranteed compensation when private property (pictured: La Perla) is acquired for public use

Schwarz said he also wants the state to guarantee that he will continue to have access to his water pump and water rights in the Rio Grande

'It's my only source of water, my river pump for 15,000 acres of land — 3,000 of my own, eight other owners owning the rest. And we need that water,' Schwarz said regarding the Rio Grande

Schwarz said he has been using a snaking line that is regularly adjusted to locate the optimal water source (Pictured: Rio Grande river on La Perla)

'These banks were just vertical and they've sloped them. It's beautiful, in my opinion, and it makes me feel more secure.'

Schwarz, who bought the property in 2005, said his ranch was broken into a year ago by a group of migrants, who also attacked his son - a situation he said was 'quite frightening.'

In fact, his fence has been vandalized several times over the years by migrant crossings.

'Our problems have been a lot of problems at night where they're crossing our fences and they're either cutting our fences and we lose our valuable animals or crawl over them and just literally so many people crawling over and they knock your fences down. That's a big problem,' he said.