Three days after Texas Governor Greg Abbott invoked the state’s “Invasion Clauses” to tackle the record-setting influx of migrants illegally crossing the southern border, a new planning document obtained by Army Times and The Texas Tribune reveals Texas Military Department officials are planning to deploy a fleet of fully tracked armored personnel carriers and National Guard troops.
Texas Military Department officials issued the order Thursday to the headquarters leading Operation Lone Star reveals. It detailed the deployment of ten M113 armored personnel carrier vehicles to the border.
By Friday, the Texas Military Department released a statement that “aircraft flights and security efforts” will also be ramped up.
“These actions are part of a larger strategy to use every available tool to fight back against the record-breaking level of illegal immigration.
“The Texas National Guard is taking unprecedented measures to safeguard our border and to repel and turn-back immigrants trying to cross the border illegally,” the department said.
Governor Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021, deploying soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to counter the influx of illegals crossing the border while the Biden administration turned a blind eye to the migrant crisis they sparked.
Fox News reporter Bill Melugin tweeted a shocking video from Eagle Pass, Texas, via drone outfitted with a thermal imaging system. He said the drone “shows a large group of migrants crossing illegally into private property early this morning [Thursday morning].”
Melugin said, as reported by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, “there have been over 1,400 illegal crossings in the Del Rio sector in the last 24 hours & 69,000 since 10/1.”
Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz quoted Melugin’s tweet, stating that “5,000,000 illegal aliens have crossed the border since Joe Biden was elected,” adding “over 230 illegal aliens crossed last month alone.”
Melugin has shown that migrant inflows were relatively low during the Trump years but have since erupted under Biden.
The near-term deployment of the M113s comes as no surprise. These tanks are designed to carry infantry troops and or haul equipment. Each tank can be outfitted with a variety of weapons, heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, and antitank missiles. What weapons will be on Texas Guard’s M113s at the border is unclear.
