Bloomberg
Texas Authorizes National Guard to Return Migrants to Border

Brendan Walsh - 47m ago


(Bloomberg) -- Texas Governor Greg Abbott authorized National Guard troops and state police to apprehend migrants who illegally cross from Mexico and return them to the border.



© Photographer: Montinique Monroe/Getty ImagesGreg Abbott

Abbott, a Republican, said a surge in crossings amid insufficient enforcement by the federal government compelled him to make the decision.

“While President Biden refuses to do his job and enforce the immigration laws enacted by Congress, the State of Texas is once again stepping up and taking unprecedented action to protect Americans and secure our southern border,” Abbott said in a statement.
Voter concern over a surge in illegal immigration has been a top issue for Abbott as he campaigns for a third term in office against Democrat Beto O’Rourke, a former congressman from El Paso. Recent polls have shown his lead over O’Rourke slipping in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting and his administration’s efforts to severely restrict abortion in the Lone Star State.
Illegal border crossings hit a record in May. The US Supreme Court last week ruled that the Biden administration could end the “remain-in-Mexico” program that forced asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their cases to be processed. The administration is also moving to lift Title 42, a pandemic-era measure that expedited the removal of migrants from the US.
The number of times the US Customs and Border Protection encountered migrants jumped to 1.7 million in the 2021 fiscal year, a 77% increase from 2019. In the first seven months of fiscal 2022, encounters surged another 73% over the same period last year and have already easily topped all of 2019.

Texas Authorizes National Guard to Return Migrants to Border (msn.com)