Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush announced a lease agreement Monday that will allow the state to build a border wall in Starr County.
The limited right of entry agreement was signed by Mark A. Havens, deputy commissioner and chief clerk at the General Land Office, on Nov. 19 and by Victor Escalon, Department of Public Safety South Texas regional director, on Nov. 18.
“Washington continues to ignore the Biden Administration’s border crisis, leaving Texans no choice but to take matters into our own hands,” Bush said via a news release Monday.
The property is located south of Alto Bonito and west of La Grulla, the same property Bush visited over the summer.
The commissioner held a news conference in Starr County during that visit in July to talk about a lawsuit filed by his office over the unfinished border wall in the property stretching 3,099 acres.
Matt Atwood, the General Land Office press secretary, confirmed the land involved in the lawsuit is the same where the wall will be built.
“However, these are two separate efforts,” Atwood said. “The border wall lawsuit is against the Biden Administration for their lack of action and the halting of border wall construction started by the federal government under the Trump Administration.”
At the time, the commissioner said the increase in migrants crossing through the border on the state-owned property leased privately to a farmer, identified as Mr. Wilkins, caused damage to crops and equipment, and revenues collected for the Texas’s Permanent School Fund.
Bush stressed that same interest in Monday’s news release.
“Lease revenue from this land directly benefits the most important asset in Texas — our schoolchildren,” Bush said. “As the border crisis continues to escalate, the lives of Texans are being endangered and we are at serious risk of losing revenue generated from leased lands along the Texas-Mexico border. I thank DPS for their partnership on this critical issue — working together, we will secure our border.”
On June 10, while Gov. Greg Abbott visited Del Río, he announced his plans to create a border wall and barriers.
A week later, the governor signed orders to begin construction. That same day Bush said the construction would receive emergency authorization on state lands.
During Bush’s visit to Starr County in July, he announced the General Land Office would be making its 20,000 state-owned border acres available to his plans.
But, so far, only border fencing, mainly in Del Río, has been constructed. The fencing delineates private properties that, if trespassed, can lead to state trespassing charges. Thousands of migrants who crossed through the area were charged and arrested, a strategy devised by the governor.
The lease agreement signed Nov. 18 and 19 does not specify a time when work will begin.
“The GLO has granted DPS access to the property, and DPS will begin construction soon,” Atwood stated.
The governor, lieutenant governor and other lawmakers authorized a transfer of $250 million from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to serve as a “down payment” on the construction of the wall, including hiring a program manager and contractors. A crowdsourcing effort was also started.
The funds to cover the Starr County construction will come from the agency, however.
“DPS will be covering the costs for this effort,” Atwood said.
The International Boundary and Water Commission spokesperson, Lori Kuczmanski, said they did not lease the land and have no involvement in the construction. She also said the governor’s office did not reach out to IBWC regarding construction.
The lease provides some further detail.
The agreement will span from Nov. 17, 2021 through Nov. 16, 2022. It reads, “User and user’s employees, contractors and agents shall have the right to use the premises to erect, maintain, operate, inspect, and repair temporary border fencing and for no other purpose.”
The Texas Department of Public Safety deferred to the General Land Office when a comment was requested.
Abbott’s office did not respond to a request for comment, but he shared a news story on his social media that credited The Monitor’s initial reporting on the lease.
“It’s going up soon,” the post read.
