Texas National Guard to Begin Arresting Illegal Migrants on Southern Border - Sputnik International

(Sputnik) - Texas National Guard troops have been granted the authority to help state police officers arrest migrants illegally crossing into the United States along the southern border with Mexico, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a letter.

Abbott is also in the process of using his authority to build additional border wall along the Texas-Mexico border, but construction has not begun.

    "By virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the State of Texas, I hereby order that the Texas National Guard assist DPS [state police] in enforcing Texas law by arresting lawbreakers at the border," Abbott said in a letter to the head of the Texas National Guard, Major General Tracy Norris on Tuesday.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data shows that Border Patrol agents encountered 188,829 undocumented migrants on the US southern border in the month of June, bringing the total number of apprehensions in the region since October to 1.1 million.