More than 30 years ago, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) took away a Texas farmer’s land based on a ruling by an Oklahoma judge who believed that the land in fact belonged to the federal government. What’s an Oklahoma judge doing meddling in Texas land rights, you wonder? Well, Tommy Henderson’s land was part of about 90,000 disputed acres that has been the subject of boundary debate since 1803 (the Louisiana Purchase).
The federal government argued that some of the land was publicly held, but landholders like Henderson had always used their state deeds and tax documents, which show that the land is rightfully theirs.
Texas politicians, from then-Attorney General Greg Abbott to then-Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, have consistently been very outspoken against the BLM. Abbott once said that the federal government was was trying to use its “authority to swoop in and take land that has been owned and cultivated by Texas landowners for generations.” At one point, even former governor Rick Perry chimed in on the issue, remarking that “the federal government already owns too much land.”
Texas becomes a battleground again
It’s not surprising that Texas has become the battleground for a land rights dispute like this one. Texas has always been a very independent, liberty-minded state, and today — more than ever — secession movements are taken seriously here. Perry also sparked controversy during a political rally where Texas Nationalists brought up the topic of secession and he responded by saying, “[I]f Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what could come out of that?”
In fact, a lot could come out of that, and perhaps that is why the federal government finally gave back to Henderson the land that rightfully belongs to him. In September 2015, independent media outlets reported widely on the land’s “homecoming”:
[T]he government turned the land – which had been in his family since 1904 – back over to him, and now he hopes his example will prove advantageous for other Red River land owners who are currently pushing back against BLM efforts to take their property, 90,000 acres of which are in play.
However, whether or not other landowners get their property back remains to be seen.
In August 2015, Breitbart reported:
Henderson explained he never felt his battle was with the local BLM staff and management. Rather, he said, the obstacles always came from Washington, DC.
The facts of law are different in Henderson’s case from the other land owners because he lost his land through a court decision that even BLM officials told him was flawed. “They are trying to keep their land, I was trying to get mine back,” he said. “Now that the process for the color-of-title process to work properly, it should be easier on everyone else.”
The BLM story was full of amazing twists and turns. It had a happy ending overall, but if the federal government hadn’t wised up when it did the farmers were ready with their pitchforks… and shotguns.
During the Bundy Ranch standoff in April 2014, a member of a state militia said they were ready to use deadly force to defend Cliven Bundy’s family ranch from an invasion by the BLM. Tensions ran high, and many feared that the problem was not going to be resolved peacefully.
Fortunately, the standoff ended without any shots fired, as Natural News reported. Lawmakers all over the country decried the situation and criticized the BLM for using paramilitary units to intimidate law-abiding American citizens.
Of course, the federal government should never take away anyone’s land, but doing so in Texas is a risky proposition. We can only hope that no Texas rancher, or Texas cow for that matter, will be harmed by the BLM or any other federal entity.
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