Texas National Guardsmen are now authorized to make immigration arrests at the border, based on an agreement between the state and the Trump administration.
Gov. Greg Abbott signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Friday. The memo was released Sunday, and according to the governor, arrests can be made "effective immediately."
The guardsmen are required to be accompanied by Border Patrol agents.
"This boosts manpower for border security," Abbott wrote in a post on social media to describe the collaboration between the CBP and the Texas National Guard.
In an agreement I signed between Texas and Trump's Customs and Border Protection, the Texas National Guard is granted the power of immigration officials to make immigration arrests.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) February 3, 2025
Effective immediately.
This boosts man power for border security.https://t.co/kSrWuVzbG1
For years, Abbott had tried unsuccessfully to deputize state and local law enforcement to make immigration arrests, something the Trump administration now supports.
Joseph Nunn, counsel at the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program, said the agreement may fall under a federal law that permits state and local law enforcement to assist with immigration enforcement.
However, Nunn added that the federal statute does not specify the use of the state guard for such a purpose, and he questions the legality of the memo.
"This is a law enforcement issue. This is not a military problem," Nunn said. "Soldiers, including the Texas National Guard, are trained to be soldiers. They're not trained to be immigration enforcement agents."
Nunn expressed concern at the military being used more at the border, something he and other civil rights advocates have challenged.
"The continued use of military personnel for immigration enforcement and the expansion of that use presents a lot of problems," Nunn explained. "It continues to be a drain on military resources and a distraction from the military's core national security responsibilities."
Immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch said it remains the duty of Congress to pass immigration reform.
"This is a nation that actually has a need for immigrant labor on all levels of the skill spectrum. And if we could have Congress pass immigration reform that would respond to the needs of our economy, things would calm down around immigration everywhere," Lincoln-Goldfinch explained. "But until we get that immigration reform, we're going to be continuing to see more money spent and more stories about enforcement when it's not even the answer to all of this."
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