The US state of Texas announced on Wednesday that it was offering the Trump administration land on the border with Mexico to build a “deportation center” to support the president-elect’s plan for the expulsion of undocumented immigrants.
Donald Trump said this week he plans to declare a national emergency over border security and use the military to carry out mass expulsions of undocumented migrants after he takes office in January.
On Wednesday, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said in a statement that she was offering Donald Trump some 570 acres of public land on the southern border of the United States to “help his administration implement implements its expulsion plans.
According to the Texas General Land Office, the land in question is a ranch acquired in October, which is located in Starr County, along the Rio Grande, the natural border between the United States and Mexico.
Commissioner Buckingham wrote in a letter to Mr. Trump that she has adopted the necessary measures “enabling the construction of the Texas border wall.”
Ms. Buckingham wrote in the letter that her office was “fully prepared” to enter into an agreement with a U.S. federal agency to “enable the construction of a center for the processing, detention and coordination of the largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation’s history.
Violent crimes
The president-elect constantly accused undocumented immigrants of “poisoning the blood” of the country during the electoral campaign, and denounced violent crimes perpetrated, according to him, by migrants.
Mr. Trump has promised to expel millions of people and stabilize the border with Mexico after record numbers of people crossed illegally under President Joe Biden’s administration.
Before his first presidential term, Donald Trump pledged to build a wall along the United States-Mexico border, but the project was never completed.
Karoline Leavitt, spokesperson for Mr. Trump’s transition team, said he would “mobilize all the levers of power to secure the border” and launch his mass expulsion plans, according to the American channel ABC.
Authorities estimate that about 11 million people are living in the United States illegally, many of whom have fled violence or economic hardship in their countries.
Mr. Trump’s deportation plan is expected to impact about 20 million families.