Texas has made a name for itself for being the state that has spearheaded initiatives of extreme immigration crackdown, such as the controversial Operation Lone Star. Now, as President-elect Donald Trump and his border czar, Tom Homan, continue to promise the largest mass deportation operation in American history, Texas is ready to lend a hand.
Since Trump declared a decisive victory after the Nov. 5 elections, Texas has been as open as ever to collaborate with Washington in helping ease the migrant crisis, even as border apprehensions are set to reach a record low for the Biden administration.
In recent weeks, Texas leaders offered around 1,400 acres of land on the border to the federal government for construction of deportation facilities and said the state was looking to offer more, The Wall Street Journal reported. The state bought the land for $3.8 million. It lies within the Rio Grande's flood plain and a person familiar with the sale said the previous owners had struggled to find other buyers because development there wouldn't be feasible.
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said she wasn't familiar with the flood-plain issues and that it was a strategic piece of property in an area with a high number of unauthorized crossings by migrants.
"Our message to the Trump administration is 'we're here, we're interested,'" she said. "Of course, we own property all over the state, so we're ready to sit down with them and talk about what could be strategic."
Likewise, Homan, who is set to deal with the border in the incoming administration, met with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott along the southern border last week to discuss plans for mass deportations.
"Well, we're not waiting until Jan. 20. We're already planning what we're going to do to lock down the state of Texas. Gov. Abbott's done a great job so far," Homan said during an appearance on Fox News's "Fox & Friends" last week.
"Look, illegal crossings in Texas are down over 80% because of great work by Gov. Abbott. And he's been successful because he has taken the Trump policies and put them to work," he added.
Trump has also said he plans to declare a national emergency to carry out his deportation plans. That declaration could resemble a state of disaster order in place since 2021 in Texas, where localities have been financially rewarded for participating in deportation efforts.
Texas' willingness to help the incoming administration comes as Abott over the past three years has used his signature policy priority, Operation Lone Star, to challenge federal authority over immigration and push for militarization of the border to new levels. The state has spent more than $11 billion to deploy thousands of National Guard and state troopers to border towns, erect barriers and create a system to jail migrants on low-level state misdemeanor charges.
The effort has had little effect on migration, yet it faces charges of civil-rights abuses, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The use of the military could also be prominent under the new Trump administration. Under Operation Lone Star, Texas has shifted border deployments of the National Guard from short-term to a permanent border fixture. The state has ordered soldiers to report for a year or longer and built a permanent base near the Rio Grande. Immigration experts expect Trump to similarly call up the Guard, perhaps with some direct authority to detain people.
"They've made no secret of the fact that they want to push the envelope and use military forces to enforce immigration," said Angela Kelley, a former Biden administration senior counselor for immigration. "That's distinct from previous administrations that have used the Guard to do administrative work."
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