The Texas National Guard has been empowered by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to make immigration-related arrests.
The memorandum of understanding, reviewed by Breitbart News, was written by CBP Acting Commissioner Pete R. Flores. It reportedly allows Texas National Guardsmen to conduct patrols and exercise the duties of immigration enforcement agents as long as a Border Patrol agent or other federal immigration officer accompanies them.
Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott touted the new policy in a post on X.
“In an agreement I signed between Texas and Trump’s Customs and Border Protection, the Texas National Guard is granted the power of immigration officials to make immigration arrests. Effective immediately,” he wrote. “This boosts man power for border security.”
The memo, which had not yet been disseminated to all of Texas’ border sectors as of Sunday, comes after President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) gave other federal law enforcement agents the power to conduct immigration enforcement activities. The move allowed federal agents to partake in “investigating, determining the location of, and apprehending” illegal aliens in the United States.
Agents within the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshals Service were all empowered by the Trump DHS.
The agreement between Texas and CBP comes as Trump has reportedly expressed dissatisfaction with the number of deportations that have thus far been carried out since his inauguration on January 20. Trump officials directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to increase the number of arrests from a few hundred every day to at least 1,200 to 1,500, The Washington Post reported, though White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt disputed the outlet’s report.
