'Shut it down': Red state makes massive land buy to ramp up border wall efforts amid migrant surge

FIRST ON FOX: The authorities of Texas has taken different large measurement successful its efforts to physique a partition astatine its borderline with Mexico, acquiring a 1,400 acre ranch on the Rio Grande successful a cardinal country that officials accidental has seen quality trafficking, arsenic good arsenic weapons and cause smuggling.

The Texas General Land Office (GLO) has acquired the ranch successful Starr County, successful Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Sector, which saw immoderate of the highest levels of migrant traffic. The authorities volition present usage that onshore to physique further borderline wall.

Gov. Greg Abbott announced successful 2021 backing for a authorities task to continue construction of a wall aft the Biden medication abruptly ended the Trump-era project. Abbott has besides built a floating buoy obstruction successful the Rio Grande. His medication has linked the barriers, and a broader effort by the state, to a driblet successful apprehensions.

BATTLEGROUND STATE RANCHER ‘OUTRAGED’ BY BIDEN STOPPING WALL CONSTRUCTION AS MIGRANTS POUR INTO US

This representation shows drone footage from a ranch successful Starr County. (Texas General Land Office)

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham told Fox News Digital that the Texas Facilities Commission, liable for gathering the wall, requested the property. It present means that the GLO owns 2 pieces of onshore connected the borderline successful Starr Country encompassing much than 4,000 acres.

"They said, ‘Look, it's successful the main country of wherever we're seeing the postulation crossed the border. We person unspeakable things happening connected this portion of property. The existent proprietor is not lone blocking the borderline wall, but she is blocking instrumentality enforcement's entree to that property,'" she said. "'And to truly get implicit operational power of the border, we truly request to power this portion of ground.’ So we made her an offer. We recovered a mode to acquisition her ranch from her."

Buckingham said the authorities has already been retired with bulldozers connected the property, and she believes operation volition statesman quickly.

This aerial representation taken connected Dec. 8, 2023, shows the U.S.-Mexico borderline partition successful Sasabe, Arizona. (Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images)

While it is 1 portion of a broader borderline information effort, Buckingham said determination has been "a monolithic magnitude of human traffic" connected the property. Her bureau said the acquisition includes trees that person served arsenic "rape trees," wherever migrants would show women's covering arsenic trophies aft abuse. 

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"It's astatine an country of large impact, it's successful an country wherever we spot tons of radical coming crossed each of the time, not lone seeing the radical coming across, but seeing those women and children who are abused and victimized. We're seeing drugs. We're seeing weapons. We're seeing each kinds of things coming crossed this peculiar portion of the border," she said. "In fact, erstwhile we were touring it [Thursday], tons of trash everywhere. You tin archer determination person been a batch of radical done there. So we deliberation that this barrier, this partition that the Texas Facilities Commission volition build, volition assistance to power that postulation and hopefully unopen it down."

Buckingham noted that it’s successful summation to different moves made by Texas, including a caller declaration of Fronton Island to beryllium authorities property, truthful that the country tin beryllium secured from amerciable crossings.

"But we're excited to spot the advancement made connected this ranch. We're excited that it volition person a affirmative interaction connected the wide migration that's happening crossed our border, and that's what we want," she said.

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The determination comes astatine a clip erstwhile migration and amerciable migration are apical topics for the statesmanlike election. Former President Trump has promised to restart borderline partition operation if re-elected. Vice President Kamala Harris has enactment her enactment down a Senate borderline measure introduced this twelvemonth that would see backing for borderline agencies, including immoderate constricted borderline partition construction.

Fox News' Emma Woodhead contributed to this report.