"Elite soldiers" are heading to Texas' border with Mexico to "repel illegal crossings," Republican Governor Greg Abbott said on Monday, as the border regions brace for the ending of pandemic-era health measures.
Texas Tactical Border Force soldiers will be stationed at "border hotspots to repel illegal crossings," Abbott said, adding that these "elite soldiers will fill in the gaps in preparation for Title 42 ending this week."
"In Biden's absence, Texas continues taking unprecedented action to respond to this crisis," the governor said on Twitter.
Title 42 is a public health measure that was enforced during the Trump administration in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic took hold to limit the spread of the virus. A controversial move that drew criticism from some Democrats and from asylum rights activists, it allowed border officials to block many migrants from entering the United States without a completed asylum process.
Its use declined as the pandemic went on, according to the Pew Research Center, although it remains in force until Thursday.
"Title 42 is not an immigration authority, but rather a public health authority used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] to protect against the spread of communicable disease," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, said in April 2022. This coincided with the CDC indicating they would end the measure.
After being kept in place for several years, including under the Biden administration, it is coming to an end on Thursday, with a predicted wave of border crossings to follow. Speaking earlier this month, Mayorkas said that "We've been preparing for quite some time and we are ready."
"What we are expecting is indeed a surge," he added. "What we are doing is planning for different levels of a surge."
Social media footage has shown lines of migrants in border areas ahead of the end of Title 42. The Texas National Guard will deploy "specially trained soldiers" to the region, along with Blackhawk helicopters and C-130 military aircraft, the Texas governor said.
These resources will be "deployed to hotspots all along the border to help intercept and repel large groups of migrants trying to enter Texas illegally," Abbott said.
"With the ending of Title 42 on Thursday, President Biden is laying down the welcome mat to people across the entire world, but Texas is deploying our new Texas Tactical Border Force," Abbott said in a press release published by his office on Monday.
Newsweek reached out to the Department of Homeland Security via email for comment.
In response to a Newsweek comment request, the White House pointed to comments from White House Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, who told the media on Monday that "we have multiple agencies and multiple countries working together to humanely manage the border when Title 42 public health order lifts on Thursday...in just a couple of days."
"Now, given all that House Republicans have had to say about our plan, you would think they'd have some grand alternative. But think again," Jean-Pierre said.
"We are confident that with the tools that we have in front of us, that we are doing everything that we can," Jean-Pierre later said during the media briefing. "We have a robust multi-agency plan to humanely manage the border through enforcement, deterrence, and diplomacy. And we're implementing that plan with our regional partners using the few tools we have remaining because, again, Congress has failed to act."
Earlier this month, the Biden administration said it would send 1,500 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in anticipation of the expiration of Title 42. Jean-Pierre said last week that "these personnel will be performing administrative tasks, like data entry and warehouse support."
"They will not be performing law enforcement functions or interacting with immigrants or migrants," she added in a media briefing. "This will free up Border Patrol agents to perform their critical law enforcement duties."
These personnel would be deployed for 90 days, Pentagon press secretary General Pat Ryder said on May 2.
On Monday, Jean-Pierre said the government was "using the tools that we have in front of us to deal with this issue."
"Republican officials want to do something else," she said, adding that "the administration has been preparing for months and taken significant steps to ensure all Americans have continued access to life-saving protections, such as vaccine treatments [and] tests."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that it encountered more than 2.3 million migrants attempting to cross the southern border into the U.S. during the 2022 fiscal year. Figures for March showed 257,910 "national encounters" at the border.
However, "the end of Title 42 in itself does not change migration patterns," according to Ernesto Castañeda, an associate professor at the American University in Washington, D.C., and director of the college's Center for Latin American and Latino Studies.
"It is often portrayed as opening an easy way to immigrate legally to the U.S., but that is not the case," he told Newsweek. "Title 42 mainly affected some people that were trying to apply for asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border."
"But new announcements seem to indicate that asking for asylum there will be more difficult than before the pandemic," he added. "Therefore, the effects of Title 42 in weakening asylum protections for people from many Latin American countries will continue even after it ends."
The White House announced in January new measures to "increase security at the border and reduce the number of individuals crossing unlawfully between ports of entry." This includes the "expedited removal" of those entering the U.S. illegally and a five-year ban on re-entry.
"Congress could create a better system for people to immigrate in an orderly and safe manner, even if they are not asking for asylum," Castañeda said. "Governors cannot control immigration."
Update 05/10/23, 8:21 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Ernesto Castañeda and additional information.
Update 05/09/23, 12:30 p.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from the White House.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more
