EL PASO, Texas — Military and state police have surged into the city in the past 24 hours and formed a line along the banks of the Rio Grande as a show of force hours ahead of when pandemic policy Title 42 could end and lead to increased migration over the border.
Texas National Guard soldiers and military vehicles, along with Department of Public Safety officers, arrived in El Paso Monday and were on guard on the south side of downtown by evening, a federal law enforcement agent revealed to the Washington Examiner Tuesday.
Several hundred soldiers have been sent in, according to an unconfirmed Fox News report. Gov. Greg Abbott, DPS, and the Texas Military Department did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The backup state forces fill in where Border Patrol agents have largely been pulled from standing on patrol. Agents have been taken out of the field to transport, process, and care for the thousands in detention each day.
The particular spot where the backup forces arrived has seen groups of more than 1,000 people cross the border at a time over the past two weeks. In the past week, more than 10,000 immigrants who crossed the border illegally in El Paso were released onto the streets.
DRONES CREDITED WITH CATCHING 50,000 ILLEGAL ENTRIES AT BORDER
Over the past week, approximately 13,000 noncitizens have been arrested by federal agents of the Border Patrol for illegally crossing in and around El Paso.
The deployment of additional state resources to West Texas is new and is part of Abbott’s increased efforts to bolster security at the state’s boundary with Mexico.
Numbers could rise when border officials are no longer able to expel some immigrants back to Mexico immediately, as was allowed under public health provision Title 42. With the highest number of immigrants in history coming into El Paso in recent weeks, Abbott deployed more police and military into the hot spot.
Abbott sent a letter to President Joe Biden Tuesday demanding that he surge federal personnel to the border.
“These communities and the state are ill-equipped to do the job assigned to the federal government — house the thousands of migrants flooding into the country every day. With perilous temperatures moving into the area, many of these migrants are at risk of freezing to death on city streets,” Abbott wrote.
“The need to address this crisis is not the job of border states like Texas,” Abbot continued. “Instead, the U.S. Constitution dictates that it is your job, Mr. President, to defend the borders of our country, regulate our nation’s immigration, and manage those who seek refuge here.”
The assignment is similar to previous shows of force authorized by Abbott, including when dozens of DPS vehicles lined up to make a “steel wall” in Del Rio in September 2021.
During the Trump administration, Abbott deployed state forces to Eagle Pass, Texas.
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More than 100 vehicles lined up along the Rio Grande to deter immigrants from wading across the river. The move followed reports of a caravan of immigrants marching to the border.
