Expansion of Detention and Carceral Infrastructure

Texas State Immigration Enforcement before January 20, 2025

  • Converting state prisons into migrant jails (Briscoe Unit, Segovia Unit and Lopez Unit) TX Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham promised about 1400 acres in Starr County for mass detention centers.
  • SB 602 passed in 2023 giving CBP officers authority to arrest people for state felonies at ports of entry or established CBP traffic check points within Texas.
  • TX installed deadly buoys with razor wire in the Rio Grande River in Eagle Pass, TX to deter people from crossing in June 2023.
  • TX installed deadly concertina wire along the riverbanks in 2024.
  • Gov. Abbott launched the construction of a border wall along the Texas/Mexico border in 2021.