Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham speaks during a media event at a state-owned ranch near Rio Grande City on Nov. 26, 2024. (Chitose Suzuki, The Dallas Morning News/TNS)
RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas (Tribune News Service) — Texas unveiled its newly acquired border ranch — offered as the site of detention facilities to help the Trump administration with proposed mass deportations — and Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said Tuesday the state is looking to identify additional land to aid the federal effort.
The General Land Office has more than 13 million acres of land under its jurisdiction, Buckingham said.
“If the Trump administration thinks it’ll be helpful, we want to be good partners with them,” she said.
The effort, known as the Jocelyn Initiative, is named for Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old Houston girl who was killed in June. Two Venezuelan immigrants who were in the country illegally have been charged with murder and sexual assault.
“We will continue to fight to ensure that our state remains a beacon of hope, justice and dignity for all who call Texas home,” Buckingham said.
In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Buckingham said her agency is not looking to buy additional land and added she wants to be supportive of the incoming Trump administration.
Buckingham, a former state senator whose agency manages state land, introduced the news media to the 1,402-acre ranch purchased by the state in October for $3.82 million, according to a purchasing agreement obtained by The Dallas Morning News. She stood before a portion of border wall the state is building on the property.
The Starr County ranch is on the outskirts of Rio Grande City, a town of about 15,000 people 40 miles west of McAllen.
Buckingham said her agency bought the ranch after the previous owner refused to let the state build its border wall on the property. Buckingham criticized the former landowner Tuesday, saying her decision to block the border wall contributed to drug trafficking and illegal crossings into Texas.
Andrea Kate Sheerin, who sold the ranch to the state, declined to comment when reached via text message Tuesday.
About a dozen Texas House lawmakers — including Rep. Ryan Guillen, R-Rio Grande City — and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Austin joined Buckingham at the news conference.
Buckingham said the 1½-mile section of wall, being built about one mile inland from the Rio Grande, is expected to be finished in the next week as part of Operation Lone Star, Gov. Greg Abbott’s immigration crackdown.
Trump’s incoming border czar, Tom Homan, said on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show last week that the administration “absolutely will” use the ranch land for detention facilities. He did not specify whether facilities to process migrants would be permanent or temporary, such as tents.
Homan and Abbott were scheduled to greet and serve Thanksgiving meals Tuesday afternoon to Texas National Guard soldiers and DPS troopers stationed in Edinburg, about 50 miles east of Rio Grande City.
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