How Greg Abbott's 'Elite' Texas Tactical Border Force Will Stop Migrants

"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 and the White House via email for comment.

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. White House Press Secretary Karine 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.