Texas Gov. Greg Abbott deploys 400 additional National Guard troops to US-Mexico border
AUSTIN, Texas — In the wake of President Donald Trump's early executive actions on border security and enforcement, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday ordered 400 additional National Guard troops and more military equipment to the Rio Grande Valley to help federal authorities stem the flow of unauthorized immigration.
"Texas has a partner in the White House we can work with to secure the Texas-Mexico border," Abbott said Monday in a statement. "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."
The beefed-up operations were launched from military bases in Fort Worth, Texas, and Houston and included the deployment of C-130s and Chinook helicopters. The tactical border force will join thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers already deployed as part of Abbott's ongoing $11 billion Operation Lone Star, the state's ever-expanding military-law enforcement buildup at the border that started soon after Trump was ousted from the White House after the 2020 election.
Abbott's action comes after newly sworn-in U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Monday morning he has started to implement Trump's directives for swift action on the border, including using the military to carry out the president's orders.
"He's made it very clear," Hegseth said in front of news cameras and microphones in Washington. "There's an emergency at the southern border, that protecting the sovereign territory of the United States is the job of the Defense Department, and (that) the cartels are foreign terrorist organizations."
Pentagon deploying 1,500 troops to southern border
Abbott's announcement comes as federal authorities announce a surge in troops to the southern border amid Trump's escalating crackdown on immigrants.
The Pentagon will deploy as many as 1,500 additional active-duty forces to the country’s southern border, the White House said last week, following through on an executive order Trump signed shortly after taking office.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the deployment will help carry out Trump's promise of a border crackdown. The move comes in the wake of several border-related executive actions Trump has enacted since his inauguration, including declaring a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border.
About 2,500 members of the National Guard and Army Reserve are already at the border assisting U.S. Customs and Border Protection with logistics and other support duties, a Pentagon spokesperson told Paste BN. Troops were last ordered to the border by former President Joe Biden, and Trump did the same during his first term.
Unless the administration invokes the Insurrection Act, active-duty troops can't assist in apprehensions and will be limited to support roles as they have in the past.
Texas asks federal government to foot border operation bill
The Texas House and Senate budget proposals, which were unveiled last week and are still being developed, would allocate about $6.5 billion for additional state border security measures — a nearly 60% increase from what the state has spent on Operation Lone Star since it launched in 2021. Last week Abbott asked congressional leaders to, in effect, repay Texas what it has appropriated for border security during the Biden administration.
No action has been taken on Abbott's request in Washington, though Texas' senior U.S. senator said he's committed to having the federal government reimburse the state for its work.
“Texas taxpayers who have been financing Operation Lone Star for four years cannot be forgotten. I will fight to include funds in Congress’ reconciliation legislation to reimburse Texas for its historic efforts to secure the border as a result of the Biden administration’s complete and total absence and dereliction of duty,” Sen. John Cornyn said in a statement Thursday.
After reaching a record high in December 2023, Border Patrol encounters with immigrants crossing from Mexico into the U.S. plummeted to a four-year low in 2024, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
Contributing: Cybele Mayes-Osterman, Tom Vanden Brook, Davis Winkie, and Joey Garrison, Paste BN