McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Texas is offering a parcel of rural ranchland along the U.S.-Mexico border to use as a staging area for potential mass deportations under President-elect Donald Trump.
The property, which Texas originally purchased last month, is located in rural Starr County in the Rio Grande Valley. Republican Dawn Buckingham, the Texas Land Commissioner, sent a letter Nov. 14 to Trump extending the offer.
“We do hear through back channels that they are taking a look at it and considering it. But we just want them to know we’re a good partner. We’re here. We want to be helpful,” Buckingham told The Associated Press in an interview on Wednesday.
The property has no paved roads and sits in a county with one public hospital and limited local resources. But Buckingham stressed its location.
“We feel like this is actually very well-located. The land is very flat there. It’s adjacent to major airports. It’s also adjacent to a bridge over the river," Buckingham said. "So if it’s helpful, then I would love to partner up with the federal government. And if it’s not, then we’ll continue to look to ways to be helpful to them."
The land offer is the latest illustration of a sharp divide between states and local governments on whether to support or resist Trump’s plans for mass deportations of migrants living in the U.S. illegally. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council voted to become a “sanctuary” jurisdiction, limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities to carry out deportations.
Texas leaders have long backed aggressive measures on the border to curb crossings, including installing razor-wire barriers and passing a law last year that would allow law enforcement to arrest migrants who cross the border illegally.
“By offering this newly-acquired 1400-acre property to the incoming Trump Administration for the construction of a facility for the processing, detention, and coordination of what will be the largest deportation of violent criminals in our nation’s history, I stand united with President Donald Trump to ensure American families are protected," Buckingham said in an earlier statement.
Trump has said he plans to begin his deportation efforts on the first day of his presidency. He frequently attacked illegal immigration during his campaign, linking a record spike in unauthorized border crossings to issues ranging from drug trafficking to high housing prices.
There are an estimated 11 million people in the country illegally. Questions remain about how people would be identified and where they would be detained.
The president-elect's transition team did not say whether they would accept Texas' offer but sent a statement.
“On day one, President Trump will marshal every lever of power to secure the border, protect their communities, and launch the largest mass deportation operation of illegal immigrant criminals in history," Karoline Leavitt, the transition spokeswoman for Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, said Wednesday.
The Texas General Land Office did not disclose the amount paid for the land, but Buckingham stated the previous owner resisted the creation of a border wall.
A 1.5-mile (2.4 kilometer) stretch of border wall was built under Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in 2021 on that land. Buckingham said with the recent purchase, the state has created another easement for more border wall construction.
FILE - Texas state Sen. Dawn Buckingham speaks during the Save America Rally, Jan. 29, 2022, in Conroe, Texas. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP, file)
TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were mostly lower on Thursday as markets digested a strong profit report from U.S. chipmaker Nvidia.
Nvidia again topped analysts' expectations. But technology shares in Tokyo declined as they had already risen earlier in anticipation. In after-hours trading, Nvidia’s shares lost 2.5%.
France's CAC 40 lost nearly 0.2% in early trading to 7,186.09, while Germany's DAX rose nearly 0.2% to 19,030.65. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.2% to 8,104.43. U.S. shares were set to drift lower with Dow futures falling less than 0.1% to 43,502.00. S&P 500 futures fell nearly 0.3% to 5,922.75.
In Asia, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 shed 0.9% to finish at 38,026.17, as shares in semiconductor equipment maker Advantest Corp. dropped 1.6%. Chip maker Tokyo Electron shed 0.4%.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.1% to 8,323.00. South Korea's Kospi declined less than 0.1% to 2,480.63. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 0.5% to 19,601.11, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed, rising less than 0.1% to 3,370.40.
Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, noted the market reaction to Nvidia's results was muted, partly because of the positioning that happened before the release. Its long-term prospects remain complex, he added.
“The bigger question remains: where exactly is the bar for Nvidia now?” Innes said. “This push to integrate AI into every corner of the corporate world risks backfiring when the technology is forced into roles it isn’t fully equipped to handle.”
Trading in the options market suggested Nvidia’s profit report was the most anticipated event left in 2024, more than even the Federal Reserve’s upcoming meeting on interest rates, according to Barclays Capital.
Nvidia has grown into a nearly $3.6 trillion behemoth because of nearly insatiable demand for its chips used in artificial-intelligence technology.
It’s grown so fast, with its stock nearly tripling for the year so far, that pressure has grown for it to show it can keep leapfrogging past analysts’ already high expectations.
Hints about how U.S. consumers are doing are under particular scrutiny, since their spending will help determine if the U.S. economy will continue growing and avoid a recession. Shoppers are contending with high prices across the economy and still-high interest rates.
Financial markets are also still absorbing the impacts of Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election, including expectations that Trump’s policies will drive faster U.S. economic growth and inflation.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude gained 73 cents to $69.48 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 68 cents to $73.49 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar fell to 154.83 Japanese yen from 155.31 yen. The euro cost $1.0541, inching down from $1.0546.
AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.
Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@yurikageyama
The facade of the New York Stock Exchange is illuminated on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
People walk by monitors showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index and Japan's foreign exchange rate against the U.S. dollar at a securities firm in Tokyo, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Travelers walk by monitors showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
A woman covering herself from the rain walks by monitors showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
People walk by monitors showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
A woman walks by a monitor showing Japan's foreign exchange rate against the U.S. dollar at a securities firm in Tokyo, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
