Texas Claims Nine Rio Grande Islands, Opens Them to State Patrols

The Texas General Land Office has determined that nine islands in the Rio Grande, totaling roughly 66 acres, belong to the State of Texas and has authorized state police and the Texas Military Department to patrol them, Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham announced Monday.

The determination answers a federal request. In letters dated October 26 to Col. Freeman F. Martin, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, and Maj. Gen. Thomas Suelzer, the Texas adjutant general, Buckingham wrote that U.S. Customs and Border Protection had asked the land office about 28 islands in the river “whose ownership had not been definitively established.” After a review of “historical records, surveys, and other relevant information,” the office concluded that nine of them are state property.

“As such, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) may access these state-owned islands for the purpose of maintaining operational security of our southern border,” the letter to Martin reads. The letter to Suelzer grants the same access to the Military Department.

Where the islands are

A map enclosed with the letters places the islands on the lower Rio Grande, with an inset marking Laredo, Roma, Rio Grande City and McAllen. The largest is Nixon Island at 21.7 acres, followed by McKendricks Island at 18.4 acres. The smallest, Miller Island, is half an acre. Others on the map include Zachary, La Bota and Clark islands.

The land office said the finding “resolves any uncertainty pertaining to jurisdiction” and that Buckingham is working with state and federal law enforcement so officers have the coordinates they need. Both letters were copied to Scott MacNaughton of the governor’s office and Paul Enriquez of Customs and Border Protection.

The letters also set limits. Operations “must be conducted in accordance with any applicable state and federal laws,” the letter to the Military Department says, and the land office will supply maps and discuss access with both agencies.

The Fronton precedent

Buckingham tied the move to Fronton Island, a 170-acre island in Starr County she declared state land in 2023. “While we have not confirmed criminal activity on these additional islands, past experience has shown how border islands can be exploited by cartels and smugglers,” she wrote to Suelzer.

After the Fronton declaration, the Department of Public Safety and the Military Department cleared the island’s brush in Operation Flat Top. The land office says crime at the site “was halted dramatically” afterward. In 2024 the office also bought a 1,402-acre ranch on the river in Starr County for state border wall construction.

“Texas land will never become a safe haven for cartels, human traffickers, smugglers, or other criminal organizations,” Buckingham said.

The title question took a search of the state’s own records to settle. Texas officers now have written authority to patrol nine more islands in the river.