Texas Gov. Greg Abbott mobilizes specialized units on Mexico border as Title 42 end approaches

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has mobilized special units to the southern border to assist the U.S. Border Patrol as the end of Title 42 approaches and large numbers of migrants are expected to cross into the United States. 

Speaking to the Southwestern Border Sheriff’s Coalition in McAllen, Abbott told sheriffs from 33 counties that Texas will send units to keep an eye on the border and assist agents.

“Pull out your calculator and do the math. If you were to average that out on a daily basis across an entire year, it would mean more than six million people coming across the border in a single year,” Abbott said during his Monday speech.

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“We are working on quick response teams that can respond to the challenges we see coming across on the border. We had a telephone meeting last night, where we triggered one of these quick response teams to go to El Paso,” he added. “And they’ve already conducted operational maneuvers today, even before I arrived here, to make sure that we are responding more aggressively to the huge number of people who tried to enter El Paso illegally.” 

Abbott also announced assistance for ranchers along the Texas-Mexico border whose land has been destroyed or damaged due to human traffickers and migrants. 

The Republican governor has been especially aggressive about border security and vocal about the Biden administration’s response to the matter. His Operation Lone Star initiative has seen migrants bussed to Democratic strongholds to bring attention to the crisis and National Guard soldiers deployed to assist border officials. 

Title 42, a Trump-era public health order, could expire on May 11. The order gives the federal government the power to expel migrants at the southern border. It is currently only allowed to prevent communicable diseases.

The order has been in place since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and will soon end on May 11 along with the public health emergency for the pandemic. Its looming end has renewed fears from lawmakers and officials that the end of the order will be followed by a fresh migrant surge.

A group of Republican senators, led by Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., are re-introducing legislation that would allow Title 42 public health to be also used to protect the U.S. from drug smuggling.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.