Texas National Guard Deploys Contingency Force to El Paso Ahead of Title 42 Expiration

Gov. Greg Abbott is sending 400 members of the Texas National Guard to El Paso to help with border security pending the expected expiration of Title 42 on Wednesday.

The soldiers are part of a Security Response Force comprised of members of the 606th Military Police Battalion that will be flown to El Paso Monday on four C-130J aircraft from the 136th Airlift Wing located at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth.

“The Security Response Force is trained in Civil Disturbance Operations and Mass Migration Response, used to safeguard the border and repel and turn-back illegal immigrants,” the Texas Military Department said in a news release Monday. A second SRF from the 236th MP Company is on standby if needed.

The TMD said the response is part of Abbott’s enhanced border security effort and “are part of a larger strategy to use every available tool to fight back against the record-breaking level of illegal immigration and transnational criminal activity.”

State officials have reported high levels of border crossings over the last week ahead of the expected expiration of Title 42 which is expected to lead to a massive influx of migrants attempting to cross the border illegally.

The Department of Homeland Security has warned reversing Title 42, “will likely increase migration flows immediately” and on Saturday, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser declared a state of emergency over the border crisis citing safety concerns for both his community and asylum seekers.

For days, large groups of migrants have gathered on the Mexican side of the U.S. border, waiting to get in. There is concern among some state or federal officials that criminals may exploit gaps in border security or slip by federal authorities processing migrants seeking asylum.

“We know that the influx on Wednesday will be incredible. They will be huge. Talking to some of our federal partners, they really believe that on Wednesday our numbers go will go from 2,500 to 4,000 or 5,000 or maybe 6,000. And when I asked him, I said, ‘Do you believe that you guys can handle it today?’ The answer was ‘No,’” said Leeser.

On the ground, advocates have said they worry about a growing humanitarian crisis, especially as temperatures plunge dangerously low, into the 20s, during a cold front ahead of Christmas.

Last week, officials with the city of El Paso said they may bus migrants to nearby large cities like Dallas, Houston, Denver and Phoenix, all large transportation hubs with big airports, to help ferry migrants to other cities. Abbott, meanwhile, has been busing migrants to faraway Democratic strongholds for months.

The DHS is planning to increase resources at the border though they don’t know yet exactly how large the need there will be.

The Texas Air National Guard has three flying units; the 136th flies and maintains eight C-130 aircraft.

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