Abbott extends National Guard order amid new border crossings
Gov. Greg Abbott ordered Texas National Guard troops on Tuesday to remain at the Mexico border, extending again a mission that began in 2014 when unaccompanied children started pouring into the country and that will continue amid another wave of arrivals.
As many as 1,000 armed troops patrolled the Rio Grande Valley at the height of what the White House once called a “humanitarian crisis” of children showing up at the Texas border. Military officials, who previously refused to publicly state an end date on the deployment, said after Abbott’s announcement that December was supposed to have been the end of a nearly 18-month mission.
Neither Abbott nor the Texas National Guard would say when troops would now go home. Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Travis Walters also wouldn’t disclose how many troops would remain, but said no new troops would be deployed.
Abbott issued the order in response to U.S. Border Patrol figures showing that more than 10,000 unaccompanied children crossed into the U.S. in October and November — double the number of crossings in the same two months of last year. The increase has already prompted federal officials to open two shelters in Texas and one in California.
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