RIO GRANDE CITY—Standing on property recently purchased by her agency, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham announced Tuesday new efforts to aid in securing the border. She also announced that the 1,400-acre property—and others owned by the General Land Office—would be made available to the incoming Trump administration for deportation facilities.
The program, deemed “the Jocelyn Initiative,” will be named after Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl that two illegal aliens are accused of murdering earlier this year in Houston. Her mother, Alexis Nungaray, was present at the announcement.
Buckingham said the GLO is committed to helping state and federal authorities “gain complete operational control” of the porous southern border. She noted that the ranch’s previous owner would not allow law enforcement on it or the construction of a border wall.
In less than 24 hours of purchasing the ranch in October, the GLO had secured the right of way for the wall.
“We’re going to build a mile of this wall in the next week,” she said. “I have extended an offer to President Trump and incoming border czar Tom Homan to use this 1400-acre property to construct a facility for the processing, detention, and coordination efforts of what will be the largest deportation of violent criminals in our nation’s history.”
In an interview with Texas Scorecard, Buckingham said she wants the Legislature to join her in backing Trump’s border plans.
“Texas has been standing in the gap with the federal government abdicating their constitutional duty to defend our border under Biden,” she said. “It is time for everyone to step up, be a good partner, and show the rest of the country how it’s done.”
As for Congress, Buckingham was more blunt: “Republicans need to stand up and find the path forward and govern well.”
Also at the event was Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, who said Texas has “stood in the breach” and deserves to be “paid back” by the federal government.
“We’re here because the Biden administration… has utterly refused his job to secure the border,” said Roy. “That is why President Trump was swept into office, that is why Republicans were given the trifecta in Washington, that is why the Legislature is growing here in Texas, and that is now why it is our duty, our job, to get the job done in January. No excuses.”
