A 1.5 mile long section of border wall has been built in Starr County.
Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham announced last week that the section of border wall was recently finished along the Rio Grande on a recently acquired 1,400-acre ranch west of McAllen. The property was recently purchased by the Texas Land Commission.
The area has seen a significant number of crossings by illegal migrants under the Biden administration. Starr County, part of the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector, has had approximately 1.4 million migrant encounters crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico into Texas since January 2021.
Construction of the border wall in Starr County first began back in October 2024. Buckingham signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Texas Facilities Commission less than 24 hours after purchasing the property.
“When we purchased this land, we did so intending to fortify our southern border," Commissioner Buckingham said. "The completion of this roughly 1.5-mile stretch of border wall is another step in the right direction in ensuring robust border security for our state.”
The TFC is also in the process of installing security cameras, lighting, and a motorized gate for law enforcement to patrol the area.
“As the agency that stewards over thirteen million acres of state land, the Texas General Land Office will continue to play a significant role in safeguarding our Texas families and communities,” said Buckingham.
Commissioner Buckingham has also offered the land to the Trump Administration for the construction of deportation facilities. Trump and his incoming border czar Tom Homan plan to deport thousands of violent criminal illegal immigrants currently in the U.S. starting as early as this week.