Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state agencies to assist with President Donald Trump's mass deportation efforts in a series of executive orders.
The Republican governor and fierce Trump ally signed five other executive orders, all relating to immigration and the need to collaborate with the Trump administration.
Abbott said he ordered state agencies to work with their federal counterparts to "investigate, arrest, detain, and deport illegal immigrants in Texas." The orders also direct state agencies to assist federal agents in securing the U.S.-Mexico border, share intelligence information on drug cartels with federal law enforcement and work with the federal government to "deploy any physical infrastructure to improve operational security at the southern border."
"For the past four years, Texas has worked around-the-clock to defend our southern border while former President Joe Biden refused to protect our country from an invasion he allowed," Abbot said in a Wednesday release. "Now, we have a Commander-in-Chief in the White House who will do what is necessary to protect Americans."
Other executive orders include: the Texas Military must come up with an operational plan to cooperate with the U.S. armed forces to "regain and maintain operational control of the southern border" and state agencies must identify "additional detention space" for federal officials, Texas Tribune reports.
Abbott said that the last order is directed at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Texas Facilities Commission to earmark land and facilities that can be used for detention and deportation for immigrants who are believed to be in the United States unlawfully.
The Texas General Land Office has also gifted the Trump administration a 1,400-acre ranch in Starr Country for use to build detention and deportation facilities. A spokesperson for the Office told Border Report that the Texas Facilities Commission is currently in the process of installing security cameras to monitor the property, lighting, and a motorized gate to allow law enforcement vehicles to patrol the entire property.
The governor's recent orders followed raids in Texas last weekend throughout different cities including Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Brownsville, McAllen, Irving, Dallas and Fort Worth. About 1.6 million unauthorized immigrants reside in Texas, according to July 2024 data from the Pew Research Center.
The three-term governor is no stranger to mass deportation efforts. In 2021, Abbott launched a border security initiative dubbed Operation Lone Star, sending state troopers and National Guard members to the border to address a rise in border crossings he blamed on the Biden administration. Texas has spent more than $11 billion on the effort so far, and Abbor asked for a full reimbursement from the federal government last week.
According to the governor's office, since the launch of Operation Lone Star, the multi-agency effort has led to over 526,600 apprehensions of undocumented migrants and more than 48,700 "criminal arrests," with more than 41,900 felony charges as of Nov. 15, 2024.
Originally published on Latin Times
