Texas Tactical Border Force is deploying Monday in preparation for Title 42 to end on Thursday as the state with the most miles of southern border braces for 13,000 migrant crossings per day once the pandemic-era policy expires.
Gov. Greg Abbott announced the deployment of the elite National Guard group after President Joe Biden also revealed last week that he is sending 1,500 active duty troops to the southern border.
Meanwhile, images emerged with thousands of migrants lining up on the southern side of the U.S.-Mexico border, waiting in anticipation for Title 42 to end on May 11.
Currently, the average number of migrants crossing the southern border each day is 7,700. But the Biden administration estimates that the number could increase to 13,000 every day once Title 42 is no longer in use.
Other external estimates have put that number even higher.
Smugglers are encouraging migrants to head for the border by saying the end of Title 42 will make it easier to cross – even though the Biden administration wants to bring in tough rules to speed up deportations and ban re-entry for up to five years.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is deploying the newly formed Texas Tactical Border Force Monday to help manage ‘hot spots’ at the southern border with the impending end of Title 42
As Title 42 is set to expire Thursday, May 11, migrants are lining up at the southern border to immediately cross into the U.S. once the policy is no longer in use. Pictured: Hundreds of migrants arrived in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on Sunday, May 7 to cross the border into El Paso, Texas
‘The Biden administration has been a disaster, they ripped apart policies that led to lowest illegal border crossings in decades,’ Abbott told Fox & Friends on Monday morning.
He went on: ‘We are deploying today a new Texas Tactical Border Force made up of elite National Guard who are trained for one thing, and that is to identify areas where illegal immigrants are trying to cross the border and fill that gap and repel them to deny them access to enter into the United States.’
‘They can do it one of several ways – physically turn back those who are trying to come over illegally, and they are building immediate wire border barriers that prevent people from coming across the border,’ the Texas governor continued. ‘And you saw early iteration of this when you saw long lines of people in El Paso in 24 hours.’
Abbott insists that a border barrier needs to be completed to ‘immediately’ stop in-flow of migrants.
Title 42 was first passed in 1944 and was enacted by then-President Donald Trump in 2020 at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
The policy allows immigration and border officials to immediately expel migrants without hearing their asylum claims during a public health emergency. Specifically, the original law intends to stop entry of those able to bypass health screenings by crossing illegally.
Some reports indicate that there are between 700,000 and 1 million migrants that could cross in the days following the end of the pandemic-era expulsion policy.
Abbott noted Monday morning that his state is pressing onward to ‘very quickly build as many barriers as possible to turn back as many people as possible.’
Texas National Guard soldiers have already been manning the border for the last few years, but the military presence will now be even more prominent as it’s all-hands-on-deck for the end of Title 42.
Gov. Abbott shakes the hands of members of the Texas National Guard on Monday, May 8 in Austin, Texas as they prepare to deploy to the southern border to provide assistance with the end of Title 42 in just three days
Thousands of migrants have made the dangerous trek to the U.S. southern border over the last several years by hopping onto moving trains
‘We are deploying today a new Texas Tactical Border Force made up of elite National Guard who are trained for one thing, and that is to identify areas where illegal immigrants are trying to cross the border and fill that gap and repel them to deny them access to enter into the United States,’ Abbott told Fox & Friends on Monday morning
Illegal immigration and unlawful border crossings have reached an all-time high under the leadership of President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
‘So as you all, and everybody knows, what Mayorkas has said – he said the border is closed,’ Abbott said of his talks with the DHS head.
‘So, yeah, I’ve talked to Mayorkas a couple of times. And every time I’ve talked to him, he continues to have his head in the sand. He’s either lying or really doesn’t know what’s going on, because the border is not closed.’
He added: ‘They’re doing nothing to stop it and all of the policies that the Biden administration tried to put in place are just going to entice more people to come across the border.’
Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who also represents a border state in Arizona, said Sunday that she has nearly no communication with Mayorkas.
