AP Photo/Leslie Hoffman Federal authorities are said to be gearing up to seize private land in the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas to make room for the wall President Donald Trump wants to build on the US-Mexico border. About $1.6 billion in funding for a section of fencing was already appropriated in the spending bill Trump signed in March. News about the pending land seizures comes as the Trump administration takes heat for a "zero-tolerance" immigration policy that led to thousands of children being separated from their families at the border over the last several weeks. The federal government is moving to seize private land in a section of southern Texas to make room for President Donald Trump's border wall. The land seizures would take place in the Rio Grande Valley, the Texas Tribune reported on Thursday.