1,000 more National Guard troops headed to border, ‘Big 3’ announce

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Texas’ “Big Three,” Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dennis Bonnen announced “stop-gap measures” to assist U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Texas Friday.

To assist CBP, Abbott said 1,000 Texas National Guard troops will be sent to the border in addition to the 1,000 troops that are already there. The troops will help man “temporary holding facilities” being set up by the Department of Homeland Security in El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley. They will also be sent to ports of entry to assist CBP, Abbott said.

Abbott said “single adults” that will be held at these facilities while they wait for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to transport them.

“This effort is focused at reducing the humanitarian crisis at our border on increasing border protection and security for our communities, and on expediting trade between the United States and Mexico,” Abbott said Friday afternoon.

Abbott said more than 45,000 individuals from 52 different countries have been apprehended illegally crossing the border into Texas in the past three weeks.

“Because of this massive influx of people coming into the country illegally, the personnel of the border patrol is overwhelmed, they need more assistance,” Abbott said.

“Texas is stepping up and helping out,” Abbott stated.

Abbott, Patrick and Bonnen called out Congress for failing to act on border policy.

“Congress is a group of reprobates for not addressing the crisis on our border,” Abbott said.

Abbott closed the press conference by saying Texas would not “stand idly by and endanger the lives and safety of the State of Texas because Congress is refusing to do its job.”

While the move has drawn support from top Republican leaders in the state, it has drawn ire from some of Texas’ outspoken Democrats.

“Deploying more National Guard to the border is a fool’s errand and a waste of millions of taxpayer dollars, whether those dollars are federal or state,” State Sen. José Rodríguez, D- El Paso.

“This latest action will not help to alleviate the humanitarian crisis at our southern border,” Rodriguez explained.

“In the absence of leadership both at the federal and state levels, our local communities have stepped up to care for these immigrants with basic decency and provide them with a modicum of dignity as they seek the opportunity for a safer, better life for their families,” Rodriguez said. “The taxpayer dollars that will be used to pay for the National Guard should instead be used to reimburse local governments and non-profits that have shouldered the burden of providing shelter, food, and coordinating transportation for asylum seekers.”

State Rep. Poncho Nevárez, who chairs the House Committee on Homeland Security & Public Safety, said he agrees that Congress should be held responsible, but said Abbott’s action was overkill.

“I’m really disappointed,” Nevárez, a Democrat, said, wondering who state leadership talked to along the stretch of the border that he represents in Del Rio and Eagle Pass.

“I’d like to see the promissory note on that,” Nevárez said, worried that the state would not get reimbursed for action he believes the feds should be taking.

State Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, who is the chair of the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus in the Texas House, called on the Trump Administration to respond.

“We welcome a shift that recognizes a need for humanitarian assistance and keeping trade flowing with our neighbors to the south,” he said in a statement. “For over a year, local communities in the Rio Grande Valley, El Paso and San Antonio have stepped up with zero assistance from the federal government to help children and families who are seeking asylum.”

Bonnen said the state has sent bills to the federal government to highlight the point that “they are costing Texas taxpayers’ dollars, but not meeting their constitutional responsibility of securing our border.”

“Shame on Congress if they won’t do their job, but we owe it to the people that elect us just as they owe it to them to do their jobs,” Bonnen explained. “Just because they won’t get their job done doesn’t mean we won’t do our job.”

This story will be updated. Please check back later.

Steffi Lee contributed to this report.