The Texas General Land Office acquired a 1,402-acre ranch along the Rio Grande in Starr County, according to a Tuesday news release. 

The property’s location makes it “crucial” for enhanced border security, and placement of a border wall, the news release stated.

“The General Land Office works for the people of Texas, and our agency will take matters into our own hands and partner with the State of Texas to secure this section of Starr County by building a fortified 1.5-mile wall,” Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham stated in the news release.

The news release notes that the GLO now owns two pieces of land on the border in Starr County that encompass a total of more than 4,000 acres.

According to a news release, the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector has recorded “thousands upon thousands” of illegal migrant crossings and asylum-seekers crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico into South Texas since January 2021.

In 2023, Commissioner Buckingham declared Fronton Island — a 170-acre island located in the middle of the Rio Grande near the city of Roma — as state property to clear it out and patrol the area as part of Operation Lone Star.

READ MORE: DPS discusses a year's worth of operations at Fronton Island