Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is sending 400 soldiers and some helicopters to the border to augment President Trump’s federal efforts to secure the border.
His office in a release on Monday said he told the Texas Military Department “to deploy the Texas Tactical Border Force to the Rio Grande Valley” for the purpose of working with Trump’s administration on border security.
The Texas Tactical Border Force is set to head out on Monday from military bases in Fort Worth and Houston. It will send C-130s and Chinook helicopters along with 400-plus soldiers “to join thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers already deployed on the border to collaborate with U.S. Border Patrol agents on the border,” the release said.
“Texas has a partner in the White House we can work with to secure the Texas-Mexico border,” Abbott said in the release. “To support that mission, today, I deployed the Texas Tactical Border Force, comprised of hundreds of troops, to work side-by-side with U.S. Border Patrol agents to stop illegal immigrants from entering our country and to enforce immigration laws.”
“For the past four years, Texas held the line against the Biden Administration’s border crisis and their refusal to protect Americans,” he added. “Finally, we have a federal government working to end this crisis. I thank President Donald Trump for his decisive leadership on the southern border and look forward to working with him and his Administration to secure the border and make America safe again.”
Trump made the issue of immigration central to his 2024 presidential campaign, and his administration has taken a number of steps to change immigration and border policies immediately.
Trump also vowed to undertake mass deportations once elected. Last Friday, a White House spokesperson said the administration had started military flights to take people in the country illegally away.
“Deportation flights have begun,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X. “President Trump is sending a strong and clear message to the entire world: if you illegally enter the United States of America, you will face severe consequences.”
The Hill has reached out to former President Biden for comment.
