(NewsNation) — The nation’s incoming border leader Tom Homan is heading to Texas where’s he expected to tour the southern border with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
They’ll be in Eagle Pass on Tuesday, which has been a focus of the state’s Operation Lone Star program.
Abbott says Homan is the man for the job — and so does President-elect Donald Trump, who appointed him Homan to the position.
Touring the border
Homan and Abbott will begin their tour at a Texas military base along the banks of the Rio Grande.
Border officials say migrant crossings are down thanks to seasonal trends, federal executive action and Operation Lone Star.
“Priorities for the mass deportation operation are public safety threats and national security threats, Homan said.
He’ll be visiting National Guard soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers stationed on the border in areas like Edinburg. It’s a region Ron Vitello, a former U.S. Border Patrol chief and retired Immigration and Customs Enforcement director knows firsthand.
“It’s well known for drug trafficking,” Vitello said. “It has, for generations, been a place where cartels have elected used to smuggle a lot of drugs.”
Land for mass deportations
In that same well-known area, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham hosted a “border wall construction kick-off” event Tuesday.
Buckingham is offering a 1,400-acre ranch to the incoming Trump administration for mass deportation facilities.
“In less than 24 hours of purchasing this property, we had the right of way done for the wall,” she said. “Within a couple weeks, we have broken ground. And guess what? We are going to build a mile of this wall in the next week and we’re going to be done in the next couple of weeks.”
Homan has promised drastic changes in U.S. border security, including mass deportations on the first day of the Trump administration.
Buckingham and other politicians frequently cite high-profile cases, including the deaths of 12-year-old Texas girl Jocelyn Nungaray and Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, as reasons to refine border security. Those suspected in both killings are accused of being in the country without authorization.
Nungaray’s mother, Alexis Nungaray, attended Tuesday’s groundbreaking. Every day is a struggle, she said.
“Some days are easier than others, but it never takes away the fact that she’s not here anymore due to heinous people who were let in this country to do what they did to her,” Alexis Nungaray said.
Buckingham focused on the safety of “American daughters” and other U.S. citizens during her address, saying she is “completely united with President Trump to rid our country of illegal, violent criminals.”
Trump is also a convicted criminal. Earlier this year, a jury found the president-elect guilty of 34 felony convictions of falsifying business records.
A separate jury also found Trump liable in May 2023 for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996.
The future of the criminal hush money case is uncertain after multiple sentencing delays.
NewsNation digital reporter Katie Smith contributed to this report.
