Military and state police have come to the city in the last 24 hours and formed a line along the banks of the Rio Grande as a show of power. This is hours before epidemic policy Title 42 might end and lead to more people crossing the border.
According to a federal law enforcement official, El Paso’s Texas National Guard soldiers and military vehicles arrived on Monday and were posted to the south side of the city by the time night fell. Personnel from the Department of Public Safety joined them.
Numerous soldiers have allegedly been deployed in, according to an unverified Fox News report. The Texas Military Department, DPS, and Governor Greg Abbott did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The backup state troops fill places where Border Patrol agents have mostly stopped patrolling. Agents have been pulled out of the field to transport, handle, and care for the tens of thousands held each day.
Over the past two weeks, near the spot where the backup forces landed, groups of more than a thousand people have crossed the border at once. Over 10,000 illegal immigrants who entered El Paso the week before were released onto the streets.
US Border Patrol agents have apprehended 13,000 noncitizens for breaching the law in El Paso during the course of the last week.
As part of Abbott’s increased efforts to strengthen security along the state’s border with Mexico, new state resources have been dispatched to West Texas.
Numbers could rise if border agents are no longer able to rapidly deport specific aliens back to Mexico as was allowed by public health statute Title 42. As the largest influx of immigrants into El Paso in recent weeks, Abbott expanded the amount of police and military officers in the tense area.
Abbott urged more government workers be sent to the border in a letter to President Joe Biden on Tuesday. “These towns and the state lack the capacity to carry out the federal government’s mandate to house the thousands of migrants that enter the country every day. As severe weather approach, many of these refugees run the risk of freezing to death on city streets, according to Abbott.
Texas and other border states are not obligated to handle this crisis, said Abbot. Instead, Mr. President, the U.S. Constitution makes it clear that it is your duty to guard our borders, regulate immigration to our nation, and handle asylum seekers.
The mission is comparable to other shows of force that Abbott allowed, like the incident in September 2021 at Del Rio where dozens of DPS cars lined up to form a “steel wall.”
While Trump was president, Abbott dispatched state forces to Eagle Pass, Texas. More than 100 cars were positioned along the Rio Grande’s banks in an effort to deter immigrants from wading over it. In response to concerns about an immigrant caravan reaching the border, the action was done.