State of Texas: State offers land to assist future deportation efforts

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham announced her office is offering a 1,400-acre plot of land in Starr County to the Trump administration. Buckingham says it would be an ideal spot for a deportation facility.

"I am 100 percent on board with the Trump administration's pledge to get these criminals out of our country, and we are more than happy to offer our resources to facilitate deportations of these violent criminals," Buckingham said. "We're happy to make this offer and hope they take us up on it."

Buckingham described the plot as "essentially farmland," and "easy to build on." Her office did not specify how much the state paid to acquire it.

Tom Homan, President-elect Trump's pick to serve as "border czar," told Fox News that the incoming administration expects to use the gifted land as part of its deportation program. He did not go into details about any plans.

Homan is scheduled to visit the Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday. He will join Gov. Greg Abbott to present holiday meals to National Guard troops serving along the border. Commissioner Buckingham announced a "border wall construction kick-off" on the newly acquired state land in Starr County on the same day.

Migrant crossings along the Texas border are at their lowest level in years, a dip achieved through seasonal trends, federal executive action and the state's Operation Lone Star -- but state leaders are not pulling back from the border yet.

"We're not letting up at all," Gov. Greg Abbott told Fox News' Sean Hannity Tuesday night. "We have to get them out of our country as quickly as possible, but we have to multitask... we have to at the same time ensure that we are building the barriers and denying the illegal entry into our country."

On Wednesday, Abbott shared a video of additional buoy barriers the state is placing in the Rio Grande River. A thousand feet of bright-orange balls have cut through the river in Eagle Pass for more than a year, designed to deter and redirect migrants considering walking across the shallow water.

Last week, Abbott shared images of Texas troops conducting training exercises in preparation for what he calls "potential mass migration." DHS reportedly considered the possibility that migrants may try to cross the border before President-elect Trump takes office. There has been no extraordinary surge reported at this point.

The Texas legislature is also preparing to take state border enforcement even further. State Sen. Bob Hall, for example, has filed bills to establish the "Texas Department of Homeland Security" and to authorize the Texas Department of Public Safety to deport migrants -- measures the Biden administration challenged as unconstitutional.

State Board of Education approves educational materials that include religious themes

The State Board of Education approved new teaching materials for elementary school students with religious themes in an 8-7 vote Friday.

While school districts are not required to use the new “Bluebonnet” curriculum, there are financial incentives for those that do.

The new materials have come under controversy for their inclusion of Christian stories, with some SBOE members saying it favors Christianity over other faiths and may violate the separation of church and state.

“I appreciate the effort to include other faith traditions, I appreciate that, but it seems it me it is trying to place a band-aid over a gaping wound," said Rebecca Bell-Metereau, SBOE member for District 5.

Texas Freedom Network, a grassroots organization that opposed the new curriculum, released an analysis of it on Nov. 5. According to the analysis, the amended version of the curriculum does fix some of the issues with the original May version but is still “lopsided” in its coverage of Christianity and the Bible in a way that “suggests that this is the only religious tradition of any importance.”

“That is not a message that Texas public schools, which are called to serve a religiously diverse population, have any business conveying,” said the analysis, which was prepared by David R. Brockman, a religious studies scholar and Christian theologian.

The analysis said there is an overemphasis on Christianity and “the authors appear to go out of their way to work detailed Bible lessons into the curriculum even when they are both unnecessary and unwarranted.”

A fifth-grade poetry lesson in the curriculum includes the Psalm of David and identifies it as a core text of the Jewish and Christian faiths. It also identifies King David as a central figure in Islam.

Another lesson for fifth graders uses the Christian allegory “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” by C. S. Lewis and instructs students that a central character represents Jesus who it says the Bible teaches died for others and was resurrected.

Faith advocates argue that the Bible is a legitimate historical and literary focus.

“Attacking these materials merely because of their academic study of the Bible is denying students the right to learn and create a learning environment that is hostile to Christianity and religion,” said Mary Elizabeth Castle, director of government relations at Texas Values, a conservative advocacy group.

The new materials will be available for schools that choose to use them in August 2025.

Proposed dementia research institute could follow CPRIT model

Monday, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced a "new major legislative initiative for the Texas Senate," a state-funded research institute that could focus entirely on dementia.

"Dementia is going to increase as the population increases, so as we get a larger population, the state will have more and more people who are experiencing dementia," said Dr. Karen Fingerman, director of the UT Austin Texas Aging and Longevity Consortium. "There's a projection that the population over the age of 65 in Texas is going to increase by 90% in the next 20-30 years, so this is a really pressing issue."

The Dementia Prevention Research Institute of Texas (DPRIT) would be modeled much like the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), Patrick said.

“Structured like CPRIT, and funded for a decade...DPRIT will be laser-focused on Dementia, just as CPRIT is laser-focused on Cancer. Like CPRIT, this investment will draw leading researchers and companies to Texas and require them to be based in Texas, leading to their further investment in our state," Patrick said in a release Monday.

According to Patrick, Senate Committee on Finance Chair Joan Huffman, a Republican lawmaker from Houston, will author the legislation in the Senate.

“Recently, I also traveled to Midland to meet with former Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, to help shape the legislation with him so we can build unanimous support in both the Senate and House," Patrick said in a release Monday.

As with the CPRIT in 2007 (voters then re-authorized it in 2019), should lawmakers pass the DPRIT through the legislature, voters would still need to approve it as a constitutional amendment.

"We know that every dollar invested in Alzheimer's and dementia research is a dollar that brings us closer to identifying better treatments and ultimately to finding a cure…it helps recruit people into the field of Alzheimer's and dementia where otherwise they might be working on a different disease," said Richard Elbein, CEO of the Alzheimer's Association Houston & Southeast Texas chapter.

But Elbein also said he doesn't want the state to lose sight of families dealing with this disease now, something the Alzheimer's Association has been working on getting more funding for.

"The critical additional need is to provide support for those affected by Alzheimer's disease…so that's the reason for the last three legislative sessions the Alzheimer's Association has been advocating for funding specifically to invest in care and support and that's been our number one priority," he said.

The Texas legislature passed, and voters approved the creation of CPRIT in 2007.

"In 2019, Texas voters again voted overwhelmingly to support CPRIT with an additional $3 billion, for a total $6 billion investment in cancer research and prevention," CPRIT's website says.

According to CPRIT, the agency has granted more than $3 billion to Texas research institutions

CPRIT’s work is personal for CEO Kristen Doyle. A cancer survivor herself, Doyle got involved in the agency early on.

“To be in the middle of all of this fantastic work is just one of the highlights of my life,” Doyle said.

Over 150,000 people will be diagnosed with cancer this year in Texas, Doyle said, and 44,000 will die.

“It remains a tremendous threat, and we are seeing more and more cases of what they call early-onset cancer, so cancers that are occurring in early adulthood,” Doyle said.

Ten percent of CPRIT’s funds go towards cancer prevention, while 90% goes towards research, Doyle said.

CPRIT can do screenings in every county in Texas and has detected over 46,000 cancers and cancer precursors through CPRIT-funded screenings.

“Early detection means easier to treat, easier to survive,” Doyle said. “We’ve literally saved lives with these screenings. At this point now, more than 410,000 Texans have had their first screening through cancer prevention projects funded by CPRIT.”

The grants that CPRIT provides go through a peer review process. Experts make recommendations to CPRIT’s oversight committee, which is made up of appointments from the governor, lieutenant governor and the speaker, on which grant applications should be funded.

“The peer reviewers are all from outside of the state of Texas, so they're not eligible to receive grant funds from us,” Doyle said. “So, there's really no you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. They really are looking at it from the very best science.”

CPRIT also recruits talent from around the world to bring to Texas.

“We've really seen just an acceleration in the innovation that is coming out of Texas,” Doyle said.

Governor, Regents make moves to ease college cost burden

In a Nov. 13 letter to Texas universities and colleges, Gov. Greg Abbott said undergraduate tuition and fee increases in the next two years are prohibited.

Abbott said in the letter this is a way for public universities to "ease the financial burden on our students and their families."

"As this tuition freeze expires, let me be clear: I will not support any tuition increase at any public
higher education institution in the upcoming biennium. My office has spoken to the Board of
Regents at every public university system, and we are in agreement that no institution in Texas
should approve tuition increases for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 academic school years," he said.

Abbott said that the state has invested in higher education, which includes "increased funding for universities and financial aid programs" to ensure that higher education "remains accessible and affordable for all Texans."

"When all Texans have access to quality and affordable education, they can earn better wages, meet workforce qualifications, and experience a higher quality of life," Abbott said. "I will ensure college affordability remains a top priority for the state as we head into the next legislative session."

A spokesperson with the University of Texas tells KXAN that the University shares Gov Abbott’s passion for finding new and innovative ways to make higher education more affordable and accessible, especially for those with limited financial means. 

A few days after the Governor's letter, the University of Texas System Board of Regents voted to cover tuition free of charge for undergraduate students whose families "have an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $100,000 or less," UT officials said in a news release. Currently, the UT System provides free tuition for undergraduate students coming from families making $65,000 or less.

The change will take effect beginning in fall 2025, officials confirmed. It will apply to students at all UT System institutions, the release added.

Officials said 14,500 UT Austin undergraduates currently receive free or reduced tuition as part of the Texas Advance Commitment, or TAC.