Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced Monday that he is deploying an additional 400 soldiers to the Rio Grande Valley, as well as C-130s and Chinook helicopters.
"Texas has a partner in the White House we can work with to secure the Texas-Mexico border," said Governor Abbott 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.”
Opinions over the use of the military to enforce border security fall along party lines. El Paso and Rio Grande Valley Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales is praising the use of military resources to deport migrants, "I think you’ll see the number increase, from hundreds to thousands of people getting deported on a daily basis," he said. "These convicted criminal aliens need to go home."
Democratic US Representative Veronica Escobar, also of El Paso is critical of the president’s policies calling them performative and propaganda. "A form of propaganda so he can tell his base, look, I'm doing exactly what I told you I was going to do."
She also added that deportation flights already occur regularly using aircraft specifically meant for deportation. "Deportation flights have begun. They happen every single day. In fact, dozens a day normally happen."
Last week, Texas installed more buoys in the Rio Grande following the inauguration of President Donald Trump. The state first began putting buoys in the Rio Grande in 2023 to make it more difficult for people to cross the river from Mexico into Texas.
A court ordered the Governor to remove them, but an appeals court overturned that decision - and has allowed them to remain in place. Governor Greg Abbott posted a video on social media on Monday of crews installing more buoys, just after President Trump was sworn into office.
He wrote that he looks forward to continuing to work closely with President Trump to secure the border.
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