Texas Border

Gov. Abbott directs Texas military to work with Trump on border security

Members of Texas Tactical Border Force to join the National Guard working with the Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley

Texas Military Department deploys on Jan. 27, 2025.
Texas Military Department

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is sending hundreds of soldiers in the Texas Military Department to work with the U.S. Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley.

The governor's office said Monday that Abbott directed 400 members of the Texas Tactical Border Force "to join thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers already deployed on the border."

Watch NBC 5 free wherever you are

Watch button  WATCH HERE

In addition to the manpower that left Fort Worth and Houston on Monday, the TMD was also sending C-130s and Chinook helicopters to the border.

Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning with NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.

Newsletter button  SIGN UP

"Texas has a partner in the White House we can work with to secure the Texas-Mexico border," said Abbott in a statement. "To support that mission, today, I deployed the Texas Tactical Border Force, comprised of hundreds of troops, to work side-by-side with U.S. Border Patrol agents to stop illegal immigrants from entering our country and to enforce immigration laws.

The governor's office said Abbott launched the Texas Tactical Border Force in 2023 as part of his comprehensive border security mission. Through Operation Lone Star, which was launched in March 2021, the state said they have deployed thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to the border and apprehended more than 530,800 illegal immigrants, arrested over 50,300 criminals, and seized more than 622 million lethal doses of fentanyl—enough to kill every man, woman, and child in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

Last week, members of the Texas National Guard shared on social media they were reinforcing concertina wire that had been damaged by "transnational criminal organizations through attempts to illegally enter Texas."

Contact Us