Texas sends more than 400 Guardsmen to US-Mexico border

Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday said he’s sending more than 400 soldiers from Houston and Fort Worth to the U.S.-Mexico border to collaborate with Border Patrol agents “to stop illegal immigrants from entering our country and to enforce immigration laws.”

Abbott said he will also send C-130s, an aircraft that can take off and land on rough terrain, and Chinook helicopters. The troops, part of a unit called the Texas Tactical Border Force, will join those already deployed to the border through the state’s border security mission, Operation Lone Star, that Abbott started in 2021 in response to the Biden administration’s immigration policies.

Through Operation Lone Star, the state has deployed thousands of state National Guard troops to the border, though it is not clear how many are actively deployed. The Trump administration last week also sent 1,500 active-duty U.S. soldiers to the border.