Texas governor Greg Abbot announced the deployment of National Guard troops to the border on Saturday. The troops will participate in Operation Lone Star, a Texas DPS operation designed to limit the ability of smugglers and cartels to cross the border.
Abbott issued the deployment order following a meeting with Texas DPS Director Colonel Steve McCraw. The two discussed strategies to increase safety and security along the border. The operation will integrate the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) with the National Guard, Abbott said. He is ordering the deployment of air, ground, marine, and tactical border security assets to high threat areas.
“The crisis at our southern border continues to escalate because of Biden Administration policies that refuse to secure the border and invite illegal immigration,” said Governor Abbott. “Texas supports legal immigration but will not be an accomplice to the open border policies that cause, rather than prevent, a humanitarian crisis in our state and endanger the lives of Texans. We will surge the resources and law enforcement personnel needed to confront this crisis.”
The deployment comes amid a drastic surge in illegal border crossings that began soon after President Biden took office. This increase pushed the White House to reopen the detention centers used to house migrants under the Trump administration.
Rep. Henry Cueller (D-TX) noted that Border Patrol agents detained about 10,000 migrants in the Rio Grande Valley Sector during a seven-day period. “We are weeks, maybe even days, away from a crisis on the southern border. Inaction is simply not an option,” Cueller said in a written statement “Our country is currently unprepared to handle a surge in migrants in the middle of the pandemic.”
