Texas National Guard soldiers now have the authority to make immigration arrests under a new agreement between the Lone Star State and the Trump administration.
GOP Gov. Greg Abbott signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Customs and Border Protection Protection (CBP) acting commissioner Pete Flores that deputizes Texas National Guard personnel to make immigration arrests within the state, according to a copy of the agreement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. The MOU will allow potentially thousands more law enforcement officials to help carry out the Trump administration immigration enforcement mission within the largest border state in the country.
Under the authority granted by the MOU, Texas National Guard soldiers may investigate and arrest foreign nationals for immigration violations in the same manner as a CBP official. Soldiers are also permitted to transport foreign nationals in a similar manner to a CBP official, which includes transportation for detention or for deportation.
However, this authority may be performed “only under the supervision and direction” of a CBP official, according to the agreement.
The MOU, which was signed on Jan. 31, is effective immediately. A spokesperson for CBP did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
“In an agreement I signed between Texas and Trump’s Customs and Border Protection, the Texas National Guard is granted the power of immigration officials to make immigration arrests,” Abbott said on social media. “This boosts man power for border security.”The Trump administration has made other moves to bolster immigration enforcement along the border and in the interior of the country.
The agreement follows a directive handed down by the Trump administration in January that grants members of numerous federal agencies the authority of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Agents working within the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Federal Bureau of Prisons have arresting authority similar to ICE agents, according to the directive.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum — in reaction to President Donald Trump’s tariffs against her country for allowing drugs and illegal migration into the U.S. over the years — quickly declared Monday she was deploying 10,000 National Guard soldiers to the U.S.-Mexico border to help mitigate the flow of illicit drugs such as fentanyl and illegal immigration.
Texas, the state with the largest share of the U.S.-Mexico border by far, has stood out with its hawkish enforcement policies.
Over half a million migrant apprehensions have been made and more than 119,000 illegal migrants have been bussed to various sanctuary cities since Abbott launched Operation Lone Star, according to the governor’s office. Abbott also signed a bill into law allowing Texas law enforcement to arrest individuals for residing in the country unlawfully, a move that attracted a lawsuit by the Biden administration.
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