AUSTIN (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday authorized state forces to apprehend migrants and return them to the U.S.-Mexico border, pushing the boundaries of their enforcement powers and the Republican's escalating efforts to curb the rising number of crossings.
The federal government is responsible for enforcement of immigration. One immigrant rights group denounced the move and called for swift intervention from the Biden administration, which did not immediately react to Abbott's order.
For more than a year, Texas has patrolled the border with an increasingly heavy hand. Abbott stopped short Wednesday of authorizing Texas troopers and National Guard members — who he has already deployed to the border by the thousands — to take migrants across the ports of entry and into Mexico, disappointing former Trump administration officials who have urged him to do so.
