Amid a surge of illegal border crossings and ahead of a polar vortex, over 400 Texas National Guard troops were dispatched to El Paso on Monday to curb the flow of criminal noncitizens into the U.S. as part of the state's broader "enhanced border security effort."
Armed guardsmen and troopers have since formed a line along the banks of the Rio Grande, preventing river crossers from surrendering to Border Patrol agents.
Border Patrol agents behind the line would not process the illegal aliens, keen instead to let the guardsmen repel them, reported the Texas Tribune.
Guardsmen employed Spanish when informing prospective border crossers that they didn't stand a chance of making it across and advised them to attempt to enter the country through a legal port of entry.
The Texas Military Department posted images of 36th Infantry Division troops constructing a concertina-wire barrier to discourage illegal crossings.
\u201cThis morning, service members deployed to El Paso, Texas constructed a triple-strand concertina barrier near the border to secure the area from illegal crossings\n@36thInfantryDiv\u201d
— Texas Military Dept. (@Texas Military Dept.) 1671573701
According to the Texas Tribune, over 1,000 yards of razor wire have been placed this week.
Fox News' Bill Melugin posted a video showing members of the TNG preparing for an onslaught of illegal aliens, with Humvees strategically positioned.
\u201cNEW: More @FoxNews video showing TX National Guard deployment to Rio Grande in El Paso, TX. Concertina wire deployed and humvees lining up in same area where massive caravan crossed last week.\nTX Gov. Abbott sent 400 soldiers to El Paso in advance of possible T42 drop tonight.\u201d
— Bill Melugin (@Bill Melugin) 1671568046
El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser announced a state of emergency over the weekend, indicating that neither citizens nor illegal aliens were safe.
The Texas Military Department announced Monday that the TNG activated and deployed airlift assets from the 136th Airlift Wing in Fort Worth, which had been on alert status since last week.
Accordingly, four C-130J cargo aircraft expedited the "movement of Soldiers and equipment to El Paso" as part of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's security initiative.
"The deployment includes a Security Response Force composed of elements of the 606th Military Police Battalion mobilizing to El Paso, Texas," stated the Texas Military Department. "A second Security Response Force from the 236th MP Company remains on high alert, prepared to deploy if needed, to other areas of the border."
A Tuesday statement from the governor's office indicated that extra to the Texas Military Department, Abbott is working with the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Division of Emergency Management to stymie the influx of criminal noncitizens.
These efforts come over a month after Abbott declared an "invasion" at the southern border and indicated that he would be taking a series of "unprecedented measures ... to keep our state & country safe."
While the TNG and other state forces hold the line, Texas expects the federal government to step up to help at the border, which the president has yet to visit.
Abbott wrote to President Joe Biden Tuesday, saying, "This terrible crisis for border communities in Texas is a catastrophe of your own making."
"Texas has borne a lopsided burden caused by your open border policies. The need to address this crisis is not the job of border states like Texas," Abbott wrote. "Instead, the U.S. Constitution dictates that it is your job, Mr. President, to defend the borders of our country, regulate our nation’s immigration, and manage those who seek refuge here."
\u201cI sent a letter to President Biden demanding he deploy federal assets to our border as a polar vortex moves into Texas. \n\nIt is Biden\u2019s constitutional duty to address this crisis. Texas will continue to step up in his absence. \n\nRead my full letter: https://t.co/hBv7DYpmBl\u201d
— Gov. Greg Abbott (@Gov. Greg Abbott) 1671564142
The governor called on Biden to deploy federal assets to "address the dire problems you have caused" and to "execute the duties that the U.S. Constitution mandates you perform."
While the TNG has been beefing up its presence in anticipation of the end of Title 42, which many anticipate would open the floodgates to an alarming number of attempts by criminal noncitizens to steal into the U.S., the Trump-era policy temporarily remains in place per the order of Chief Justice John Roberts.
Despite the Department of Homeland Security's recent admission that thousands of recent deportations have been Title 42 expulsions, the Biden administration nevertheless renewed its request for the Supreme Court to lift the policy.
Leeser, El Paso's mayor, suggested that 20,000 illegal aliens are "ready to come into El Paso" — many more of whom will get to stay in the U.S. upon Title 42's elimination.
According to the New York Post, El Paso's shelter beds are all taken up, its illegal alien detention facility is 1,500 capacity, and around 800 people have been released onto the streets.
This video apparently shows some of the hundreds of criminal noncitizens now crowding the streets of El Paso.
\u201cSHOCK VIDEO: Homeless Illegals Take Over Streets of El Paso\nhttps://t.co/8cLhNwRxBN\u201d
— Border Hawk (@Border Hawk) 1671601470