Suit says U.S. Border Patrol devalues land

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Two California landowners have sued the U.S. government, saying incomplete border fences are funneling illegal immigrants to their land and devaluing property.

Roque de la Fuente II, of San Diego, and business partner David Wick, contend that because the U.S. Border Patrol uses their property to round up illegal immigrants, it's an illegal taking of private land without compensation, the San Diego Union-Tribune said.

Government lawyers in court papers said Border Patrol may access private property within 25 miles of the border but the landowners say it doesn't allow devaluation of property, the newspaper said.

"Just because the San Diego Police Department has a right to patrol your street does not mean they can set up a command post in your living room," the landowners' attorney, Roger Marzulla, told the Union-Tribune.