(OSV News) — A New Mexico diocese is citing religious freedom violations as it continues to counter the Trump administration’s advancing efforts to seize land from the Mount Cristo Rey pilgrimage site for building a sector of the U.S.-Mexico border wall.
“This affront to religious liberty cannot stand,” said the Diocese of Las Cruces in a June 19 opposition response filed in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.
Along with the response, Bishop Peter Baldacchino of Las Cruces; Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas; and Bishop Michael Buerkel Hunn of the Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Episcopal Diocese of Rio Grande, filed June 19 declarations in support of the Las Cruces Diocese’s challenge.
The documents were the latest filings in a federal government lawsuit claiming eminent domain — or government power to seize private property for public use, with “just compensation” as required by the Fifth Amendment — over some 14 acres that include Mount Cristo Rey in Sunland Park, New Mexico.
Mount Cristo Rey gets thousands of pilgrims each year
The 4,675 foot peak, capped by a 29-foot limestone statue of Jesus Christ, has served as a shrine for Catholic faithful coming there to pray for close to a century.
Each year, thousands trek up the rugged path to the image, which depicts a robed Christ with arms stretched out against the cross, overlooking the El Paso, Texas, and southern New Mexico landscapes.
According to court documents, the Department of Justice has sought for months to access the mountain, which sits on land owned by the diocese, to construct a portion of a border wall. The move is part of the Trump administration’s sweeping crackdown on unauthorized immigration.
On May 7, the federal government filed suit in district court against the diocese and the treasurer of Doña Ana County, New Mexico, to take possession of the land.
On June 15, U.S. District Judge Kenneth J. Gonzales ruled that the legally required just compensation — determined by the fair market value of the property, and calculated as $183,071 — should be deposited into the court registry’s bank account. The move is standard in eminent domain legal proceedings.
New Mexico diocese invokes First Amendment, RFRA
At the same time, Gonzales stressed in his ruling that “allowing the deposit and subsequent transfer of title will not interfere with, alter, or nullify” the diocese’s right to challenge the Trump administration.
In its June 19 response, the Diocese of Las Cruces invoked its rights under the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the latter of which expands protections for religious exercise beyond those covered under the former.
RFRA prohibits the government from placing a substantial burden on a person’s exercise of religion without compelling government interest, and even in those circumstances, requires that they do so by the least restrictive means.
But the federal government’s plans for taking possession of the land are hardly that, said the diocese, which described the border wall as “offensive to Catholic values and teachings,” and “a physical symbol of the Government’s dehumanizing treatment of migrants writ large.”
“Nothing could be less Catholic,” said the diocese.
Border wall a ‘counter-sign’ to Catholic teaching
The filing quoted Las Cruces Bishop Peter Baldacchino, who called the wall “a counter-sign to the teachings of the Catholic Church.” These teachings, the filing continued, stress universal human dignity and the morally necessary provision of “basic goods of human life” — such as “food, water, shelter, and freedom to worship” — to those in need.
“This core principle has informed the Catholic Church’s longstanding advocacy for migrants, exiles, and refugees,” said the diocese in its opposition response.
Specifically, said the diocese, the federal government’s plan would “deface” Mount Cristo Rey, and “profane” the site with the presence of a border wall segment that would in turn likely “damage or restrict access to this sacred space.”
In addition, said the diocese’s response, the Trump administration’s move to condemn the land and take immediate possession would “deprive” the diocese of its stewardship responsibilities, which ensure that “successor landowners do not use Diocesan property in ways that are inconsistent with Catholic values and teachings.”
The diocese also noted that former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem — under whom the land seizure effort was initiated — “waived compliance with a host of statutes and regulations that safeguard culturally, historically, and environmentally sensitive sites in connection with border-wall construction.”
Border Patrol video bragged of Mount Cristo Rey ‘facelift’
The diocese also said the federal government “has shown little respect for Mount Cristo Rey in the preliminary phases of its work in the area.”
The diocese cited a video posted to X by El Paso Sector Border Patrol on Feb. 4, 2026, “depicting a large explosion.”
According to the diocese’s filing, “the text accompanying the video brags that ‘(s)ections of Mt. Cristo Rey in Santa Teresa will undergo a face lift.’”
The diocese observed that “the only face on Mount Cristo Rey is that of Christ the King.”
The diocese also pointed to the government’s admission of contracting companies and greenlighting work “before even securing title to the property in question.”
“This contract-first, secure-title-later approach reflects an arbitrary and capricious mode of decision-making,” said the diocese.
Another sacred site has already been “irreparably damaged” by the federal government amid the border wall construction, said the diocese, pointing to the government’s bulldozing of a southwest Arizona geoglyph — a large design inscribed in the earth’s surface — that was sacred to the O’odham tribes.
“I fear that the holy site on Mount Cristo Rey will suffer similar desecration as a result of the Government’s aggressive, rushed, and haphazard initiative,” said Bishop Baldacchino in his declaration.
Bishop says government would force him to violate canon law
He also noted that the federal government’s move to condemn the land further violated his religious freedom by placing him, as steward of diocesan property, at odds with canon law, the Catholic Church’s administrative code.
“The very act of condemnation is contrary to the canonical requirements of the Catholic Church,” said Bishop Baldacchino in his declaration, explaining that any sale of the land would first need a sign-off from the Vatican, along with “consultative affirmation” from diocesan officials.
Bishop Baldacchino said, “If the Diocese were to engage in a sale of this land, it would be required to seek approval from the Vatican’s Dicastery of the Clergy,” as well as market assessments, consultation with diocesan officials and finance council members, and the “inclusion of legal restrictions” to prevent the land from being used contrary to Catholic teaching.
“As the Diocese has not agreed to sell this land, these procedures have not and will not take place, as the condemnation process does not allow for them,” he said.
He also said “the erection of a physical symbol of division and dehumanization on the holy site of Mount Cristo Rey would shatter the sacredness of that cherished place, especially where there are alternative means of patrolling the border.
“A barrier that prevents victims of government tyranny, gang violence, domestic abuse, and economic insecurity from seeking what is in many cases life-saving refuge in the United States cannot be reconciled with Catholic teachings,” said Bishop Baldacchino.
Judge Gonzales has given the federal government a July 3 deadline to respond. A hearing on the case is scheduled for July 23.
Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.
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