President-elect Donald Trump vowed to launch his mass deportation plan after he takes office in January.
Undocumented immigrants with a criminal background or those who pose a threat to national security will be prioritized for deportation, Trump has said. But migrants without a criminal past may be detained and removed, too.
The Office of Homeland Security estimates there are 11 million immigrants living without authorization in the U.S. About 1.6 million are in Texas, according to the Pew Research Center.
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham announced in November that she’d offered 1,402 acres in South Texas to the incoming Trump administration to use to build detention facilities. A fierce critic of the Biden administration’s policies, she has promised to help the president-elect with immigration enforcement in any way she can.
“I will not idly stand by and let this dereliction of duty affect the lives of hard-working Texans,” Buckingham said in a recent statement.
Here’s what we do know about Buckingham’s land deal and possible future detention centers in Texas.
Where is the 1,402-acre property?
The land is in Rio Grande City, about 41 miles west of McAllen in Starr County. It follows the U.S.-Mexico border along the Rio Grande River.
Starr County has an estimated population of 65,934 and is considered the most Hispanic county in the country with 97% of residents identifying as such. Nearly a third of residents live in poverty.
This year, Donald Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to win the county since 1892.
How much did the land cost?
The Texas General Land Office bought the property from Sheerin Real Properties, Ltd. for $3,822,200, according to documents obtained from the Texas General Land Office through a public records request.
The Texas Newsroom reached out to the seller listed on the documents, Michael Hudsonpillar, but did not hear back.
Hudsonpillar has been a farmer for nearly three decades and comes from a family with a long history of farming.
The land was being used to grow crops, such as corn, onions, soybeans, sunflowers, canola, grain sorghum and cotton.
Why did the state buy it?
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said the property is in an important location to strengthen border security. In fact, soon after buying the ranch, she signed an agreement with the Texas Facilities Commission to kick start the construction of a border wall.
Buckingham blamed the federal government for not doing enough to secure the border and for allowing unvetted, undocumented migrants to enter Texas.
According to an analysis of government data by the Pew Research Center, migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border peaked at the end of last year but declined significantly this year.
U.S. Border Patrol numbers for encounters along the southwest border this past October also show a 70% drop from the previous October. But Christina Smallwood, a public affairs officer for the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector, said her area has seen an increase in migrant apprehensions in recent weeks.
The number of encounters does not mean the number of unique individuals who've tried to enter the country illegally. It can include migrants who tried entering numerous times as well as people who've been apprehended for the first time.
How many detention centers are there in Texas and where are they located?
Texas has 20 detention or processing centers that house detained migrants. More than 12,000 individuals were held in ICE detention or other holding facilities here as of November 25, the most of any state.
About 60% of ICE immigrant detainees don’t have a criminal record, according to an analysis of federal data by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University.
This isn’t the first time the state has been interested in land in Starr County for immigration enforcement.
In 2023, Buckingham declared a 170-acre island known as Fronton Island as state land. That allowed the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Military Department to “fortify” the land in an effort to halt criminal activity there. The effort was called Operation Flat Top and included clearing brush and adding concertina wire.
In all, the Texas General Land Office owns more than 4,000 acres in Starr County.
Will there be a detention center on this property?
President-elect Trump’s border czar Tom Homan has said that the federal government will use the land Texas has offered to detain and process people before deportation.
During a recent interview with Dr. Phil, he mentioned that planning was underway.
“I am writing the plan as we speak,” he said. “I was writing it last night, matter of fact.”
Homan said migrants who are detained would be processed quickly for deportation.
Toni Treviño, the Republican Party chairwoman in Starr County, told The Texas Newsroom that a lot of people there are struggling financially and a detention center could “bring jobs, good paying jobs” to the area.
“They are looked forward to here in the community because we need that kind of thing,” she said.
Got a tip? Email Stella M. Chávez at schavez@kera.org or the investigative team at tips@kut.org.
You can follow Stella on X at x.com/stellamchavez
Copyright 2024 KERA