Texas to deploy armoured vehicles to ‘repel’ migrants

Texas will deploy military armoured personnel carriers along its border with Mexico as part of a plan to “repel” undocumented migrants trying to enter the United States, authorities said on Monday.

The announcement came just a month before a Covid health measure blocking asylum-seekers from entering the country ends, and which may lead to a surge of asylum seekers who are waiting in Mexico. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has announced that he will deal with that as though it were an “invasion”.

“The Texas National Guard... is deploying x10 M113 Armored Personnel Carriers to the southern Texas-Mexico border, as well as increasing aircraft flights and security efforts,” said a Texas Military Department statement. “These actions are part of a larger strategy to use every available tool to fight back against the record-breaking level of illegal immigration,” it said. “The Texas National Guard is taking unprecedented measures to safeguard our border and to repel and turn-back immigrants trying to cross the border illegally.”

The migration of people from across Latin America to the United States via the Mexico border has increased in recent months.

Between October 2021 and the end of September 2022, US authorities intercepted 2.3 million migrants at the border, according to figures from the Customs and Border Protection department.

Mr Abbott last week sent a letter to President Joe Biden blaming him for an “open borders” policy that has forced Texas to “defend ourselves.” Mr Abbott also tweeted that he had “invoked the Invasion Clauses of the US & Texas Constitutions to fully authorize Texas to take unprecedented measures to defend our state against an invasion.”