Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Tuesday he is sending more members of the Texas National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border as illegal border crossings remain at an all-time high while empowering them to conduct arrests.
In a press release, Abbott's office said the National Guard will continue to work with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and local law enforcement to increase border security:
"In addition to performing a law enforcement function, the Texas National Guard is also helping with the early stages of constructing border barriers and a border wall.
"Governor Abbott praised their efforts saying, 'The Texas National Guard is playing an unprecedented role to secure the border because of the unprecedented refusal of the federal government to fulfill its obligations under federal law.'
"Governor Abbott named border security funding as a priority for the current legislative Special Session. In a call with border sheriffs and county judges on Saturday, the Governor urged border sheriffs and county judges to make their voices heard to the House Appropriations Committee during a hearing this week on the urgent need for this additional funding to secure the border. The proposed appropriation would also fund the deployment of more National Guard to the border."
The National Guard deployment is part of Operation Lone Star, which Abbott initiated in March of this year as the state really began to see the effects of President Joe Biden's open border policies and rhetoric. Despite the south being in the middle of the hottest months of the year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered over 210,000 illegal immigrants in July.
Since Operation Lone Star started, over 4,600 arrests have been made, along with 700 pounds of cocaine, 127 pounds of fentanyl, over 8,500 pounds of cannabis, and over 270 firearms have been confiscated on and near the border.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Tuesday the Department of Homeland Security must reinstate former President Donald Trump's Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as the "Remain in Mexico" policy, which Biden ordered to get rid of once he got into office. MPP required asylum seekers to wait for a court hearing in Mexico instead of the United States.
