Perhaps no other state is more prepared – or eager – to carry out President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration and border enforcement plans than Texas.
From extending a buoy barrier to bussing migrants across the country, state leaders have spent the past three and a half years building the legal and literal infrastructure that could make it easier for the federal government to carry out Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
Just last week, the Texas General Land Office offered Trump 1,400-acres of state-owned land along the border near Rio Grande City to use to build immigrant detention facilities. In a letter sent to Trump and shared on GLO’s website, Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said her office is prepared to enter into an agreement with the federal government.
“We are more than happy to offer our resources to facilitate these deportations,” Buckingham wrote.
Since Biden took office, Gov. Greg Abbott has funneled billions of dollars into an immigration enforcement effort he calls Operation Lone Star and placed hundreds of state troopers on the border. The plan included installing razor wire and floating marine barriers to deter crossings, as well as bussing tens of thousands of migrants to blue states.
The governor’s office also set up three funds to collect donations for border transportation, the border wall and border security, and named a border czar to advise him on this issue directly.
State officials, including Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, did not respond to our interview requests.
But Chris Olivarez, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety recently told Fox News that Trump would undoubtedly pull from this Texas playbook once he’s in the White House.
“We’re still going to maintain our posture,” Olivarez said. “We’re going to remain proactive in what we’re doing. And I’m sure the current administration’s going to rely on Texas helping them carry out their policies.”
Greater focus on security
Texas, with its long border with Mexico, often leads the U.S. in annual migrant border encounters, though numbers have dropped in 2024.
Clint McDonald, a retired sheriff who now directs the Texas and Southwestern Border Coalition, said most sheriffs along the border are eager to work with the new administration.
But he warned they aren’t immigration officers and don’t have the budget for border enforcement. If state leaders want them to take a more proactive approach, he said the state needs to front the funds.
“It’s a very touchy situation where our sheriffs want to do everything they can, but at the same time they gotta look at what the budget will allow them to,” he told The Texas Newsroom.
Joshua Treviño, Chief Transformation Officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, one of the most influential conservative think tanks in the state said it’s still too early to know exactly how everything will play once Trump takes office.
But he was clear it would be intense.
“There’s going to be a lot of deportations and there’s going to be a greater focus on border security,” Treviño said.
When they meet next in January, Texas lawmakers will also likely help Trump by passing new laws that encourage more state and federal cooperation on the border.
David Spiller, who represents rural parts of North Texas, has filed several such bills. One enhances the punishment for certain crimes if you’re in the country illegally.
“So you think well, we’ve done what we need to, we have president Trump in office. Why do we need to do something else?” Spiller asked in an interview. “Well, because there is more that we can do and we can partner within the federal government to do.”
Future of Senate Bill 4
There’s also Senate Bill 4, which Abbott signed into law in 2023. The law gives local and state police the authority to arrest and detain individuals suspected of entering Texas illegally. The Biden administration and advocacy groups sued the state arguing the law was unconstitutional.
It’s currently not enforceable as it makes its way through federal court appeals.
Paul Hunker, former Chief Counsel for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Dallas, believes the law is unconstitutional.
“The states can’t assume immigration functions,” he said. “They can’t purport to deport people. Non-citizens have rights to asylum and things like that. So I’m pretty confident most or all of SB 4 will not survive.”
Still, he’s concerned some local law enforcement departments will ramp up their policing in certain areas where many immigrants live, in which case, non-criminal undocumented immigrants could be arrested.
Kristin Etter, director of policy and legal services at Texas Immigration Law Council, said she anticipates any ongoing lawsuits will be dropped by the Trump administration. This means Senate Bill 4 could go into effect as soon as next spring.
One state enforcement tool that could go away is bussing unauthorized immigrants to blue states. Policymakers said Abbott made his point with the policy and may not need it anymore. In fact, it appears the state hasn’t bussed any migrants since at least August.
Etter said it’s possible those same buses will be used to transport individuals from other states to camps in Texas to await deportation.
“Just the sheer proximity to the Texas-Mexico border will make it very easy to deploy plane deportations and or . . . turning people back to Mexico,” she said.
The Trump administration also wants to speed up the deportations of migrants who have committed crimes that are already occurring. But some of them may have to serve out their sentences here in the states before they can be moved.
Another issue? The U.S. may not have good diplomatic relations with an individual’s home country. All of these complications could give some migrants ways to ultimately avoid deportation. In other words, deportation on a scale as Trump has described, could be complicated, costly and take a long time, said Laura Collins, a director with the Bush Institute, SMU Economic Growth Initiative at the George W. Bush Institute in Dallas.
“You know, some of them are going to mount a defense to deportation. There’s lots of moving parts here,” Collins said.
Investigative Reporter and Editor Lauren McGaughy contributed to this report.
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