Texas National Guard soldiers now have the authority to make immigration arrests and help detain and deport undocumented people under an agreement between the state and the Trump administration that requires those duties be done under the supervision and direction of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official.
Guard members exercising the authority must be in contact at all times with a CBP official, but that can be through cellphone, radio or other technology, according to a copy of the agreement released by Gov. Greg Abbott’s office.
“This boosts manpower for border security,” Abbott said in a Sunday social media post about the agreement — the details of which were first reported by Breitbart Texas.
The Texas Military Department referred questions to Abbott’s office. CBP did not respond to requests for comment Monday.
Abbott has sent Texas National Guard members to the border for the past four years under Operation Lone Star, the state's unprecedented border security effort that also includes deploying state troopers to the border. Until now the National Guard has acted in a support role.
Texas' agreement appears to be the first of its kind and might face lawsuits, said Nayna Gupta, policy director for American Immigration Council, a Washington, D.C., group that advocates for immigrants.
"It's written in a way to encompass a very broad set of immigration authorities which means you could imagine the Texas National Guard trying itself not just to make immigration arrests or put people into immigration proceedings but to actually effectuate the full removal from the country," Gupta said. "This is absolutely an unprecedented invocation of authority."
National Guard units are not traditionally thought of as law enforcement agencies but can augment local police in certain circumstances, said Geoffrey S. Corn, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who now directs Texas Tech University’s Center for Military Law and Policy.
"There are examples and it happens periodically where governors will call out the National Guard to assist in law enforcement," Corn said, pointing to civil disturbances. "This is a significant shift because it's basically the governor saying, 'I'm not going to restrict my National Guard anymore to back-up functions — they are going to be directly involved in apprehension, detention and transportation of migrants.' I'm unfamiliar with this happening before but I can't say definitively."
The partnership is Texas’ latest move to help President Donald Trump accomplish his promise to carry out mass deportations and seal the U.S.-Mexico border, which has seen illegal crossings plummet for months since hitting record highs in December 2023.
Last week Abbott deployed more than 400 state National Guard soldiers to the border to collaborate with U.S. Border Patrol agents and ordered state police to help find and arrest undocumented immigrants who have arrest warrants.
Attorney General Ken Paxton said Sunday that his office had also signed an agreement with the Trump administration “to formally assist with and facilitate” mass deportations, but it was not clear what the agreement entailed. Paxton’s office did not respond Monday to a request for more information.
In the past, National Guard troops and active duty military have filled “logistical, back-office, air support and observation” roles to help Border Patrol, said Gil Kerlikowske, former CBP commissioner during the Obama administration. If troops encountered undocumented immigrants, they would typically notify CBP — who would handle apprehensions and processing of migrants.
Now soldiers are being deputized and given arrest powers.
Kerlikowske added that it’s not clear that the move is necessary given the fact that border crossings have been dropping for months.
“Given the numbers right now and the numbers that have gone on for these last couple of months, it really seems that CBP is not overwhelmed or overburdened by what’s going on,” he said. "It doesn't sound like there is any operational need for them."
Trump and his advisers have previously said they want to use the military to help carry out deportations to help overcome logistical challenges of arresting, jailing and then deporting people en masse.
In the administration’s first two weeks, Trump began his immigration crackdown with a flurry of executive actions.
He ended the use of an app that asylum-seeking migrants used to secure an appointment with federal immigration officials. He gave U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials a daily arrest quota. He expanded the use of a fast-track deportation process in which people can be removed without a hearing before an immigration judge; it can now be used across the country. He tossed policies that limited arrests at sensitive locations like churches and schools.
Texas will not be reimbursed for the costs associated with the agreement it made with CBP, according to the agreement. While CBP won’t be required to cover expenses, the agreement says that Texas will keep records of expenditures should CBP choose to reimburse certain costs.
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