Did the state of Texas gift Donald Trump 355,000 acres for deportation camps? No, that's not true: The Texas land commissioner wrote to President-elect Trump on November 19, 2024, to offer a 1,402-acre state-owned ranch for deportation facilities, consistent with his campaign promise that he will deport millions of undocumented residents. The social media account that posted the 355,000-acre claim admitted in a subsequent post that it was an inflated figure.
The 355,000-acre claim originated in a November 20, 2024, post on Threads (archived here) under the title "Texas just gifted Trump 355,000 acres for deportation camps." It continued:
I want you to think about that critically. I'm taking a nap while you do that.
This is what the post looked like on Threads at the time of writing:
(Source: Threads.net screenshot taken on Fri Nov 22 00:18:21 2024 UTC)
Dawn Buckingham, M.D., the elected commissioner of the Texas General Land Office, has published online the November 19, 2024, letter she sent to Trump in which she offered a 1,420-acre ranch for use by the Trump administration in its proposed mass deportation program. Buckingham is head of the Land Office, which manages 13 million acres of state land and mineral rights. The ranch in question, near Rio Grande City, lies on the U.S./Mexico border. Part of the border wall Trump campaigned for in 2020 has been built on the property.
Here is her letter, which was posted to the Land Office website:
The account that posted the 355,000-acre claim published another Threads post one day later, acknowledging that 355,000 acres is incorrect. In it, @Syeedthedoyenne wrote:
I am aware that the number I posted is incorrect. The source is posted multiple times in the comments and you should be looking into this yourself which is why I didn't share the first article I read about this.
You can fact check without being an asshøle.
And I thank you.
That post appeared, at the time of writing, like this:
View on Threads
Other Lead Stories debunks about Texas lands can be found here.
