Texas offers Trump more land to stage evictions

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STARR COUNTY Texas officials sent a clear message at two events in the Rio Grande Valley Tuesday that they will be a willing partner of the new Trump administration and its crackdown on immigration.

First, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham announced that the state would continue to offer more land for mass eviction facilities, saying her office was in the process of identifying properties that would be ready for it. The new administration takes office in January.

Then, during a pre-Thanksgiving visit to service members involved in Operation Lone Star, the state's own border security initiative, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signaled strong cooperation between the state and the federal government now that President-elect Donald Trump is back in the White House. .

“Help is on the way,” Abbott told members of the Texas National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety.

“The cavalry is here, literally with us today,” Abbott said before introducing Tom Homan, whom Trump chose to lead his immigration control efforts. Homan pledged federal support for the Texas military.

“I hope we receive enough aid for some of you, men and women, to return home to your families,” Homan said, adding that the administration would carry out a domestic crackdown involving mass expulsions .

Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaks to state troopers and National Guard troops at a Thanksgiving dinner in Edinburg on November 26, 2024. Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune

Buckingham started the day at the 1,402-acre Starr County ranch that she proposed to Trump last week to build a deportation center and where the state is currently building a border wall.

We have 13 million acres across the state, and if there's something that meets the federal government's needs, we want them to be able to use it, Buckingham told the Tribune.

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The new project is called Jocelyns Initiative in honor of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl from Houston who police say was killed by two Venezuelan men who were in the country illegally. Jocelyn's mother and grandmother, Alexis and Jackie, joined Buckingham to announce the initiative at a press conference.

Our goal is to ensure that no other parent unfortunately has to go through what Alexis went through,” Buckingham said.

With a population of approximately 65,934, Starr County is approximately 13 times smaller than neighboring Hidalgo County. Undeveloped land stretches for miles. Even in the county's largest city, Rio Grande City, where city officials celebrated the opening of its first Starbucks in 2022, an open field is just a few blocks away.

Starr County is also unique in the Valley in that it is home to extensive rolling hills in contrast to the plains that characterize the rest of the region. On a hill overlooking the city, stands a white cross reminiscent of Rio de Janeiro's iconic Christ the Redeemer statue.

This is where the Texas General Land Office recently acquired the 1,400-acre property in October. Last week, Buckingham proposed it to the new Trump administration as a site for detention centers.

In a letter to Trump, Buckingham said the General Land Office was “fully prepared” to enter into an agreement with the federal government to allow construction of a facility for “the processing, detention and coordination of the largest expulsion of violent criminals in the world. the history of the nation. »

Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham speaks at a news conference Tuesday at a state-acquired ranch in Rio Grande City. Buckingham promised that Texas would provide the new Trump administration with more land to stage mass evictions. Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune

Under the state constitution, the land office must lease properties it owns to raise money for public schools. Land in Starr County is currently leased to a farmer who has planted rows of green onions that grow on acres.

If a detention center is to be built there, flooding could be a problem, said Jason Smalley, land office manager. He noted that any facility may need to be built closer to the main road to avoid flooding.

A car wash operates on that road, Farm-to-Market Road 1430. A group of employees who were working Tuesday declined to be interviewed at length and identified. But they suggested heavy rain had brought the water onto the road.

Immigrant detention centers are already a familiar presence in the Valley.

A processing center in McAllen, nicknamed Ursula Central Processing Center after the street it is located on, has become infamous for its chain-link holding cells and the cold temperatures inside the facility that earned the nickname “la heilera” or “ice box”.

The chain link fence was removed as part of a renovation from October 2020 to March 2022. During the renovation process, CBP opened a facility in Donna that remains open.

While these facilities were created to process migrants arriving in the United States, the Starr County Detention Center, if built, would be the only one used to process migrants deported out of the country.

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by Methodist Health Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

Disclosure: The Texas General Land Office has financially supported The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from its members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial support plays no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list here.

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