AUSTIN – Gov. Greg Abbott announced that Texas deployed a new National Guard unit of 450 soldiers called the Texas Tactical Border Force in an effort to combat illegal immigration after President Joe Biden declared the ending of Title 42 this Thursday.
Troops loaded onto Black Hawk helicopters and C-130S Monday to deploy to “hotspots” along the border in order to “intercept, to repel, and to turn back” migrants who look to enter Texas illegally, according to Abbott. The decision was announced two days after a man with an AR-15 opened fire at an Allen shopping mall, killing eight people and wounding at least seven others.
With Title 42 ending, the Biden administration estimates up to 13,000 migrants will cross America’s southern border every day, which could be more than 4.7 million immigrants in the next year, a news release from Abbott stated.
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“Texas is the only state to build its own border wall and I’m the only governor to ever have designated the Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations. With all that said, today we are announcing even more to respond to Joe Biden’s reckless open border policies,” Abbott said in a news conference at Austin Bergstrom International Airport Monday. “If you want to come to the United States of America, you must do so legally, not illegally. Today, however, we’re dealing with the highest number of people coming across the border than ever before and we will set a new all-time record this year. All of this is a result of policy decisions by Joe Biden. But know this—Texas is doing more than any state in the history of the United States of America to defend our border.”
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Abbott said that work includes deploying up to 10,000 National Guard members and 1,200 Texas Department of Public Safety troopers. The National Guard and troopers have turned back more than 37,000 people who are trying to enter the country illegally, according to the Texas governor.
“In addition to that, they have arrested about 27,000 dangerous criminals, including cartel gang members who were wanted for crimes like murder, getting them off the streets to make sure they would not harm anybody in Texas or the United States,” Abbott said.
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Abbott said border officials have seized fentanyl in amounts that could kill every man, woman and child in the U.S.
“Had it not been for the National Guard troops and the Texas Department of Public Safety officers and troopers, we would have on the streets of the United States that deadly fentanyl. It’s unknown how many Americans would have died because of that,” Abbott said.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 14,699 pounds of fentanyl were seized last fiscal year and so far, 13,891 pounds were seized this year.
Abbott said officers and troops have also been bussing migrants from cities like Del Rio and Eagle Pass to Chicago and New York. He believes “many thousands more” will be bussed in the coming days due to the massive influx of migrants coming across the border.
The precursor for Monday’s announcement was a moment in December 2022 when a unit responded to a “long line” of migrants trying to enter the U.S. through El Paso, Abbott said.
“What that unit did is they built massive miles of concertina wire, a border barrier, that in 24 hours stopped the influx going into El Paso, Texas, and it has remained effective since that time,” he said.
Abbott also mentioned that a “hotspot” where a “massive number” of people were trying to cross the border was found in Brownsville, Texas.
“We deployed the National Guard to the location to close down that crossing and now that crossing is shut down,” Abbott said. “It’s projects like that that this elite National Guard team will be focused on to identify hotspot crossing like that [and] shut it down so that we can stop illegal immigration to the state of Texas.”
The governor was joined at the press conference by Texas Border Czar Mike Banks, Adjutant General of the Texas Military Department Major General Thomas Suelzer, and Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw.
“I have traveled along the border and seen firsthand the impact President Biden’s border crisis is having on Texas communities,” Banks said. “Governor Abbott is doing the job that President Biden and the federal government is refusing to do, and Texas will continue to work relentlessly to defend our border. Today’s deployment of the Texas Tactical Border Force will allow us to shift resources to needed locations effectively and efficiently. I will continue to work with Governor Abbott as we continue to protect Texas against this unprecedented influx of illegal immigration.”
“There are 29 places you can cross into the U.S. legally, and our job is to ensure we hold that line and keep those the only places these people can cross,” McCraw said.
Abbott said he wants to make it a felony to illegally enter Texas from Mexico.
“That felony will entitle us to be able to do one of two things: Either to arrest these people and jail them for a felony or, alternatively, to return them back to Mexico,” Abbott said. “We will also make it a felony for anybody who’s operating or involved in any way in a stash house.”
Abbott wants a 10-year minimum jail sentence for people who are smuggling illegal immigrants into the state.
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