Texas will send 400 members of the state’s National Guard to the U.S.–Mexico border to work with U.S. Border Patrol agents, Gov. Greg Abbott said on Jan. 27.
Abbott has directed Texas National Guard members to the border under his Operation Lone Star initiative that was set up to curb illegal immigration, with about 4,100 National Guard from the state currently assigned to the border mission.
“Texas has a partner in the White House we can work with to secure the Texas-Mexico border,” the Republican governor said in a written statement.
Throughout former President Joe Biden’s tenure, Abbott often sparred with the federal government over illegal immigration. At one point last year, Abbott engaged in a standoff with federal officials and ordered the Texas National Guard to block Border Patrol officials from entering the Eagle Pass border crossing area.
In that deployment, the U.S. military is providing two C-130 Hercules planes, two C-17 Globemaster aircraft, and UH-72 Lakota military helicopters as part of the anti-illegal immigration and border security effort, the Pentagon said.
It’s not clear whether any of the newly deployed aircraft were being used to deport illegal immigrants who were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in recent days as part of a broader crackdown on illegal immigration that was initiated after President Donald Trump took office.
In posts on social media, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that deportation flights had started. She shared a photo of what appeared to be men in handcuffs being led to board a U.S. military plane.
Over the weekend, a war of words erupted between Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro over the military planes being used to deport Colombian nationals back to their country of origin. Petro on the morning of Jan. 26 said he would block such flights, prompting Trump to threaten heavy tariffs and other penalties before the Colombian government agreed to accept the return of Colombian deportees.
On Truth Social, Trump said he was seeking visa restrictions, 25 percent tariffs on all Colombian incoming goods, which would be raised to 50 percent after one week, and other retaliatory measures sparked by Petro’s move. Petro also announced retaliatory Colombian tariffs on U.S. goods.
Later that day, Leavitt said in a statement that the “government of Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump’s terms, including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft, without limitation or delay.”
The Colombian government late on Jan. 26 said it had “overcome” the episode with the Trump administration and Petro reposted the statement from the White House on social media platform X.
“We have overcome the impasse with the United States government,” said Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo.
“We will continue to receive Colombians who return as deportees, guaranteeing them decent conditions as citizens subject to rights.”
