Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the Texas National Guard to arrest immigrants caught illegally crossing the state’s southern border from Mexico Tuesday.
Abbott outlined his order in a letter to Major General Tracy R. Norris, Adjutant General of the Texas National Guard, directing the guard to assist the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) in arresting illegal immigrants.
“Beginning on May 31, 2021, I have issued multiple proclamations certifying under Section 418.014 of the Texas Government Code that the surge of individuals unlawfully crossing the Texas-Mexico border poses an ongoing and imminent threat of disaster for certain counties and agencies in the State of Texas,” Abbott wrote. “To respond to this disaster and secure the rule of law at our Southern border, more manpower is needed — in addition to the troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and soldiers from the Texas National Guard I have already deployed there — and DPS needs help in arresting those who are violating state law.”
“By virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the State of Texas, I hereby order that the Texas National Guard assist DPS in enforcing Texas law by arresting lawbreakers at the border,” he ordered.
As Abbott seeks to crack down on illegal immigration into the U.S., President Joe Biden is struggling to contain a flood of illegal immigrants crossing into the country from Mexico. On Tuesday, news broke that the Biden administration released roughly 50,000 illegal immigrants into the interior of the U.S. without scheduling a time for their asylum claims to be heard in court. As The Daily Wire reported:
Around 50,000 migrants who were captured crossing the United States-Mexico border illegally have been released into the United States without court dates, only instructions to eventually report back to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office, according to a report from Axios.
Only 13% of those, the outlet notes, have actually followed up with an ICE agent.
The shocking news comes as reports indicate that July may be yet another record-breaking month for illegal immigration along the southern border, similar to June, which saw the largest number of illegal immigrant apprehensions at the United States southern border in years, according to The New York Times. Some areas of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas — one of the most highly trafficked areas of the border — are seeing upwards of 20,000 apprehensions per week, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Total apprehensions at the border for 2021 so far are expected to top one million in July, putting border patrol on track to intercept two million illegal immigrants in 2021.
Abbott and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey put out a joint call in June requesting aid from other states in securing the southern border. A handful of GOP-led states have responded to the governors’ request, such as South Dakota and Florida, sending National Guard soldiers to the border states to aid in border enforcement.
“Securing our border with Mexico is the federal government’s responsibility. But the Biden administration has proven unwilling or unable to do the job,” the governors wrote in a June 10 letter. “This failure to enforce federal immigration laws causes banns that spill over into every State.”