‘I am writing to formally offer 1,402 acres of land in Starr County, Texas, to be used to construct deportation facilities,’ a Texas commissioner wrote.
The Texas General Land Office said it has offered President-elect Donald Trump a 1,400-acre ranch in a county located near the U.S.–Mexico border to build centers for mass deportations.
Land Office Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said in a Nov. 19 letter to the president-elect that the land in Starr County was recently purchased by the state.
“I am writing to formally offer 1,402 acres of land in Starr County, Texas, to be used to construct deportation facilities,” Buckingham wrote in the letter, adding that the parcel is located about 35 miles to the west of McAllen, Texas.
Adding that her office is “fully prepared” to work with federal immigration agencies, she said a facility could be built on the tract of land for “processing, detention, and coordination of the largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation’s history,” echoing campaign statements made by Trump and his surrogates regarding his mass deportation plan.
Buckingham’s office told Trump that Texas purchased the ranch with the intent to construct its own 1.4-mile border wall on an area bordering the Rio Grande after the land’s owner had declined to allow the wall to be constructed on the property and had blocked law enforcement from entering the area.
“I am committed to using every available means at my disposal to gain complete operational security of our border,” she wrote.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment by publication time. The president-elect also has not publicly responded to the offer.
During the 2024 election, Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate in more than 120 years to flip Starr County. Since 1896, the county—which is more than 97 percent Hispanic or Latino—had voted in favor of Democrat candidates.
Trump has promised to stage the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. There are an estimated 11 million people in the country illegally.
