EXCLUSIVE: They say everything is bigger in Texas, and the Lone Star State itself is growing a bit.
Texas has claimed two cartel-infested islands along the Rio Grande as part of an ongoing state effort to eliminate safe havens used by Mexican drug organizations.
In a letter to border czar Tom Homan, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham requested that the Trump administration secure and defend Beaver Island, a 20.3-arce island in Starr County, Texas, and the Roma Islands.
Both islands have been used by cartels for criminal activity, authorities said. The Roma Islands, which are 12.13 and 20.3 acres respectively, are located near Roma, Texas, and have been called a "smuggler's paradise."
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The Texas General Land Office (GLO), the mapping entity for the state, recently received a request from the Texas Military Department to determine the status of the islands and indicate whether they are a part of Texas.
The determination will permit law enforcement to conduct security operations in the area.
Several islands dot the Rio Grande along the southern border, with many being used by the drug cartels for criminal activity, such as smuggling operations and stashing weapons, and to evade U.S. and Mexican law enforcement.
"These islands are important because when they're literally in no man's land and they don't belong to any country, then neither country and have law enforcement or the military step on them," Buckingham told Fox News Digital. "So they become safe havens for the cartel."
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The cartels have built structures on the islands where they stash weapons, bombs, drugs and people, she said.
Beaver Island is partly owned by Texas and the federal government, while the Roma Islands are considered Texas land.
Once an island is designated as part of Texas, authorities will clear the area of vegetation, which cartels use to conceal their movements and illegal operations, and throw up razor wire in an effort to get full operational control, said Buckingham.
The move marks the latest by Texas to crack down on cross-border crime and illegal immigration. During the Biden administration, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott launched Operation Lone Star, an aggressive effort to combat the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into the state from Mexico.
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In her letter to Homan, Buckingham noted that Fronton Island, a 170-arce formerly lawless island in the Rio Grande, was declared to be part of Texas in 2023.
The densely-wooded area provided concealment for cartel criminal activity and had been a problem for decades, including gunfights and illegal immigration, according to law enforcement officials familiar with the area.
The island was deemed by the TMD and Texas Department of Public Safety as the most dangerous part of the Texas border.
"Besides being the first woman land commissioner Texas has ever had, it's pretty fun also being the first person to make Texas bigger in a few hundred years," Buckingham said of the addition of islands to the state.
She further noted that the Trump administration has been cooperative with Texas authorities, resulting in a 95% reduction in illegal traffic across the border.
"It's completely different than it is now," she said.
