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Texas National Guard soldiers can now make immigration arrests at the border

 Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during the Texas Rally for Life event at the state Capitol in Austin on Jan. 28.
Montinique Monroe
/
The Texas Tribune
Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during the Texas Rally for Life event at the state Capitol in Austin on Jan. 28.

Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have signed an agreement that allows Texas guardsmen to make immigration arrests on the border.

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Texas National Guardsmen are now authorized to make immigration arrests at the border, based on an agreement between the state and the Trump administration.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Friday. The memo was released Sunday, and according to the governor, arrests can be made, "effective immediately."

The guardsmen are required to be accompanied by Border Patrol agents.

"This boosts manpower for border security," Abbott wrote in a post on social media to describe the collaboration between the CBP and the Texas National Guard.

For years, Governor Greg Abbott had tried unsuccessfully to deputize state and local law enforcement to make immigration arrests, something the Trump administration now supports.

Joseph Nunn, council at the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program, said the agreement may fall under a federal law that permits state and local law enforcement to assist with immigration enforcement.

However, Nunn added that the federal statute does not specify the use of state guard for such a purpose, and he questions the legality of the MOU.

"This is a law enforcement issue. This is not a military problem," Nunn said. "Soldiers, including the Texas National Guard, are trained to be soldiers. They're not trained to be immigration enforcement agents."

Nunn expressed concern at the military being used more at the border, something he and other civil rights advocates have challenged.

"The continued use of military personnel for immigration enforcement and the expansion of that use presents a lot of problems," Nunn explained. "It continues to be a drain on military resources and a distraction from the military's core national security responsibilities."

Immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch said it remains the duty of Congress to pass immigration reform.

"This is a nation that actually has a need for immigrant labor on all levels of the skill spectrum. And if we could have Congress pass immigration reform that would respond to the needs of our economy, things would calm down around immigration everywhere," Lincoln-Goldfinch explained. "But until we get that immigration reform, we're going to be continuing to see more money spent and more stories about enforcement when it's not even the answer to all of this."

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Gabriella Alcorta-Solorio