Abbott asks Texas DPS to deploy tactical strike teams to 'support Homeland Security operations'
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday morning asked the Texas Department of Public Safety, or DPS, to deploy tactical strike teams to "support the Trump Administration’s homeland security operations to locate and arrest criminal illegal immigrants in the state."
Abbott said in a press release issued Tuesday that Texas is expanding operations to assist President Trump's hard and fast efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.
“Today, I directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to deploy tactical strike teams to work alongside our federal partners to enforce immigration laws throughout the state," Abbott said in the release. "These teams will coordinate with Homeland Security agencies to track down the thousands of illegal immigrants with active warrants across Texas and deport them from our country."
Abbott added in the release that the teams will "leverage personnel and resources" to identify and arrest nearly 5,400 illegal immigrants with active warrants from local jurisdictions across Texas.
According to the release, the strike teams include DPS troopers, Special Agents and Texas Rangers, and they will coordinate with federal partners with support from the DPS Aircraft Operations Division and the Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division.
On Monday, Abbott also directed the Texas Military Department to deploy the Texas Tactical Border Force to the Rio Grande Valley to “coordinate with U.S. Border Patrol under the Trump Administration to secure the border,” a press release from Abbott’s office stated.
More than 400 soldiers from the force, as well as C-130s and Chinook helicopters, deployed from bases in Fort Worth and Houston to the border where they joined “thousands” of Texas National Guard soldiers to collaborate with U.S. Border Patrol agents, the release said.
Trump on his first day back in office declared a national emergency at the southern border and took several actions to restrict immigration, according to The Hill. He directed the Department of Defense to assist the Department of Homeland Security to obtain “full operational control of the southern border.”