Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham purchased a 1,402-acre plot of land on the Rio Grande for $3.8 million in October. The state is currently building a mile-long wall on the property, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.
NBC News reports that Buckingham, a former Texas State Senator, offered to lease the property to the second Trump administration to use for mass deportation facilities. (The President-elect has vowed to deport millions of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, which will require more detention centers.)
As seen below, Buckingham reports that her office currently owns 13 million acres of land throughout the state and that this recent purchase is merely, as the interviewer puts it, the “tip of the iceberg.”
Buckingham said of the prospect of working with the Trump administration: “I think from the detention, deportation standpoint, we’ll probably need more urban pieces, which we do have,” and signaled that her office is “looking forward to being helpful.”
Buckingham acknowledged that the former owner of the 1,402-acre plot of land, a ranch in Starr County, was not cooperative at first when approached about the wall construction or border patrols. The landowner did not allow law enforcement on her land and “she wouldn’t allow the wall to be built” on it.
🚨UPDATE🚨
Phenomenal progress is underway at the Texas border wall on @TXGLO state land!
In less than a month, we’ve seen remarkable strides toward enhancing security and protecting the Lone Star State! pic.twitter.com/UTbTBkDWGh
— Dawn Buckingham (@DrBuckinghamTX) December 5, 2024
According to Buckingham, the landowner told the facilities commission that she would consider selling the property for fair market value but that “she just wasn’t interested in having the wall built on it while she owned it.”
