The state of Texas has offered up a 1,400-acre ranch along its border with Mexico to assist the incoming Trump administration with a mass deportation effort.
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham told The Post that the Lone Star State is offering up the site — a little over 2 square miles, which is reportedly for related new detention centers — because it is “looking to be a good partner” in ensuring “that these violent criminals that are hurting our sons and daughters that are here illegally are off our soil.
“Texas is truly a place of freedom and justice. And I want these criminals who are hurting our sons and daughters off of our soil,” Buckingham said.
“I don’t know how you look in the eyes of a parent when you’ve had someone detained multiple times under suspicion for the same crimes, and yet you keep releasing them so they can keep hurting people. So we’re going to stand firm and protect our children,” she said.
Texas purchased the ranch, which is situated in the Rio Grande Valley, last month after its previous owner refused to allow the state to build part of its border wall there.
While on the campaign trail, Trump said he intended to deport “nearly 20 million” illegal migrants he says are currently in the US — and the ranch could be used to house detention centers for people awaiting deportation, Buckingham told Fox News.
Trump’s “border czar” pick Tom Homan says the incoming administration will prioritize deporting criminal illegal migrants. Homan recently told The Post that the new White House will use the US military for “non-enforcement” duties in the effort.
“The more non-enforcement work [the Department of Defense] can do releases more enforcement officers on the street to look for the bad guys,” Homan said.
Homan told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that the Trump administration “absolutely will” use the land offered up by Texas.
In anticipation of a surge of migrants coming before Inauguration Day in January, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also is extending his floating buoy barrier in the Rio Grande river near Eagle Pass.
While the latest expected immigration surge has not yet materialized, a new caravan of at least 1,500 migrants is on its way in Mexico.