The Trump Administration has been signing contractors to build the border fence on sections of land along the Mexico border that the government doesn’t own, a move that the contractors can charge the government $15,000 per day–or possibly $100,000–in construction delays, the Texas Tribune and ProPublica report.

Through November 24th, according to an affidavit by the land acquisition manager for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the government has paid out more than $1.5 million in fees to those contractors.

With less than a month remaining in his term, Trump has failed to make the necessary land purchases or seizures of privately-owned property along the border to build his fencing, and he will not be able to clear these hurdles in court.

The Trump Administration has used the issue to push eminent domain claims in two dozen cases through the courts where property owners have fought the land seizure.

Ociel Mendoza is one of the remaining hold-outs.  His values the ranchland along the border at $200,000; the government has only offered $136,000.  The property is special to him:  he crossed it as an illegal immigrant 40 years ago.  He became a legal resident in the 1980s thanks to a Reagan amnesty program.

The Trump Administration has awarded more than $2 billion in contracts for land it does not own.  In the Rio Grande Valley, the government does not own 110 miles of the 125 on which it plans to build; only 15 miles of border wall have been completed, and those are mainly upgrades.

In some cases, the government has built fencing while avoiding legal requires.  In Starr County, for example, Mendoza found a segment of wall raised on a neighboring property the government seized, but whose legal transfer had not yet been approved by the Court.

Much of the fees for delays and legal issues come from the Trump Administration’s “hurry up and wait” funding plan:  while they awarded contracts and put money aside to purchase land, they did not make timely offers to buy the land.  Not only did that make the Administration more desperate, it emboldened the landowners, making the government increasing reliant on skeptical judges who push back on government claims of eminent domain.

According to the report, condemnation and eminent domain have jumped in the weeks since Trump lost reelection November 3rd.  Currently, there are 53 in Starr County alone; 25 have been filed since the election.

Each case seems to drastically undervalue the land and the cost to the landowner.  In Mendoza’s case, the proposed location of the fencing would cut his ranch in half, making the half on the border side virtually useless.  He would have to relocate a gate to access the land and build a new corral for his cattle.

“It won’t have any value afterwards” he said. “Anything could happen on the other side of the wall. I won’t be protected inside there.”

In response to Mendoza’s eminent domain challenge, the government claimed it’s spending $15,000 per day in delayed construction costs.  In other cases, that cost has been put at $100,000 per day.