Texas governor authorizes state to return migrants to border

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday authorized state forces to apprehend migrants and return them to the U.S.-Mexico border, pushing the boundaries of their enforcement powers and the Republican’s escalating efforts to curb the rising number of crossings.

The federal government is responsible for enforcement of immigration. The White House criticized the move and one immigrant rights group called for swift intervention from the Justice Department. For more than a year, Texas has patrolled the border with an increasingly heavy hand. Abbott stopped short Wednesday of authorizing Texas troopers and National Guard members — who he has already deployed to the border by the thousands — to take migrants across the ports of entry and into Mexico, disappointing former Trump administration officials who have urged him to do so.

The impact of the order was unclear, including how widely it would be used and under what circumstances. But the authority described by Abbott would amount to a significant and untested expansion of the normal powers of the National Guard and state police, who until now have turned migrants over to Border Patrol agents, and in some cases, made arrests on state trespassing charges. Among the questions the move raises is the training state forces have to detain and transport migrants. Legal experts expected the move to to invite court challenges. Crossings are at or near the highest in about two decades. On the Texas border, U.S. authorities stopped migrants from crossing illegally 523,000 times between January and May, up from 417,000 over the same span a year ago.

Abbott has blamed the Biden administration and spent more than $3 billion in state funds on a massive border security apparatus. But the state operation has not stemmed the flow of migrants. “As the challenges on the border continue to increase, Texas will continue to take action to address those challenges caused by the Biden Administration.” Abbott said. The White House responded by criticizing the results of Abbott’s massive border mission, known as Operation Lone Star, including a week in April when additional commercial truck inspections gridlocked Texas;’ 1,200-mile border with Mexico for a week. “Governor Abbott’s record on immigration doesn’t give us confidence in what he has cooked up now,” spokesman Abdullah Hasan said. Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department said in a statement it “rejects” Abbot’s move, saying immigration policy was a federal — not state — matter and that the decision was a purely political gambit.

“This action can only be understood as part of the Texas state electoral campaigns,” the department said.