U.S. Army soldiers patrol the US-Mexico border at Eagle Pass, Texas, on Jan. 24, 2025. (Charly Triballeau, AFP via Getty Images/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered 400 soldiers Monday to the Rio Grande Valley, escalating efforts to secure the state’s border with Mexico as President Donald Trump sends military reinforcements after declaring a state of emergency along the border.
The deployment of additional Texas National Guard soldiers, thousands of whom are already on the border as part of Abbott’s 4-year-old Operation Lone Star, was the latest in state and federal actions to address illegal immigration in Trump’s first week as president. Last week, Abbott announced more buoys being added to the Rio Grande, which marks the Texas- Mexico border, to strengthen the physical barriers blocking river crossings.
Abbott will also send C-130s and Chinook helicopters to the region, with soldiers and equipment departing from bases in Fort Worth and Houston early Monday, the governor’s office said.
Abbott deployed troops from the Texas Tactical Border Force, created last year to use National Guard soldiers in “hot spots” along the state’s 1,254-mile border with Mexico. The soldiers will work alongside state troopers and other Texas Military Department personnel already stationed there, as well as the U.S. Border Patrol and federal officers sent by the Trump administration.
“Texas has a partner in the White House we can work with to secure the Texas- Mexico border,” Abbott said in a Monday statement. “For the past four years, Texas held the line against the Biden Administration’s border crisis and their refusal to protect Americans. Finally, we have a federal government working to end this crisis. I thank President Donald Trump for his decisive leadership on the southern border and look forward to working with him and his Administration to secure the border and make America safe again.”
The state has spent $11 billion on Operation Lone Star since its inception, and lawmakers have proposed continuing its funding for at least the next two years.
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