Texas Buys Border Properties for Security and Conservation Efforts
The state of Texas has purchased more properties along the Texas-Mexico border to continue its border security and conservation efforts.
The Texas General Land Office acquired a 1,402-acre ranch in Starr County whose property backs up to the Rio Grande River, making it “a crucial location for enhanced border security and placement of a border wall,” the GLO said in a statement.
The GLO also approved an easement to allow the Texas Facilities Commission to begin the process to build 1.5 miles of border wall on the property, it said. The TFC began overseeing the state border wall construction process in June 2023 when Gov. Greg Abbott first announced Texas would build its own wall. So far, Texas has built over 30 miles of steel bollard wall, the first and only state to do so.
The Starr County ranch currently produces row crops of onions, canola, sunflowers, grain sorghum, corn, cotton, and soybeans. It will continue to produce the crops under the GLO, the state’s oldest agency says.
Starr County falls under the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Rio Grande Valley Sector. The sector has generally reported the greatest number of illegal border crossers in Texas. Illegal crossings reached an all-time high under the Biden-Harris…