Texas Offers 1,400 Acres To Build Deportation Facilities
The Texas land commissioner is dishing up a massive chunk of state-owned land along the U.S.-Mexico border to President-elect Donald Trump's administration to build deportation facilities for immigrants lacking permanent legal status.
Texas General Land Office Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said in a Tuesday letter to Trump that she bought the 1,402 acres near Rio Grande City in Starr County in late October. The office is ready to agree with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the U.S. Border Patrol to allow construction of the facilities, according to Buckingham.
“I am committed to using every available means at my disposal to gain complete operational security of our border,” Buckingham wrote.
Mass deportations and completing construction of a wall to secure the border were key components of Trump’s campaign. The state-owned land is nearly twice the size of New York City’s Central Park, BNN Bloomberg reported.
Buckingham said in an interview with Fox News that she was “100% on board” with the Trump administration's plan to deport criminals.
“We figured, hey, the Trump administration probably needs some deportation facilities because we've got a lot of these violent criminals that we need to round up and get the heck out of our country,” Buckingham told the outlet.
After acquiring the borderland, Buckingham said she approved an easement within 24 hours to allow the Texas Facilities Commission to begin construction on a border wall. The land, which the prior owner hadn't allowed law enforcement to access, is flat and “easy to build on,” Buckingham said, according to Fox.
Buckingham’s office plans to begin work on the property's border wall next week, The Texas Tribune reported.
Trump's deportation efforts are expected to focus on more than a million people who have no legal basis to stay in the U.S. because they have committed crimes or exhausted appeals. However, the effort could face funding and logistical issues, the Tribune reported.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott helped make immigration a major campaign talking point after he bused thousands of migrants from Texas to cities such as New York and Chicago.
After President Joe Biden took office in 2021, Abbott directed a military base to be built in Eagle Pass, Texas, and deployed state National Guard troops and Department of Public Safety troopers to enforce the border.
The Eagle Pass base, expected to house about 1,800 guard members, could ultimately cost more than $400M to construct. New Brunfels-based Texas Housing Solutions won the $130M contract to build the operations base.
The state also added floating barrier buoys on the Rio Grande River to help prevent migrants from crossing into the U.S. Abbott said that barrier was extended this week.
