Hundreds of troops of the National Guard of Texas located on the Larendo border to help with immigration repression – Latin times

Approximately 300 soldiers at the National Guard in Texas are heading to the border city of South Texas Laredo to support agents of the US Border Patrol, the main patrol agent of Larendo sector Jesse Munoz has announced through a local newsletter on Friday. The troops are expected to arrive in Laredo within a month.

While immigration related obligations fall into the federal jurisdiction, Governor Greg Abut announced an agreement with President Donald Trump last week, providing Texas soldiers at the National Guard of Authority to carry out immigration arrests, as long as they are accompanied by federal colleagues. This move expands the role of Texas in the federal implementation of immigration.

Abbot told Fox News that the soldiers were “replaced” to do “all that ice would do, such as detention, arrest and deportation.” In addition, the governor said the Texas Department of Public Safety was also highly involved in state immigration efforts, helping the retention and deportation of undocumented immigrants.

Trump and Abbot exchanged praise during the former inauguration, with Trump promising the governor of Texas that he would be a strong partner in the border security initiatives.

Critics of the elements of the National Guard, fulfilling immigration duties, have sparked concerns, questioning the legality of this move.

Joseph Nun, a lawyer at the Freedom and National Security Program of the Brennan Center, told Public Radio in Texas that the agreement can be aligned with the federal law that allows the state and local law enforcement authorities to support the implementation of immigration. Nun, however, noted that the law did not specifically mention the use of state security forces.

“It’s a matter of law enforcement, not the military problem,” Nun said. “Soldiers, including the National Guard of Texas, are trained to be soldiers. They are not trained to be agents to implement immigration.”

Considering existing concerns, Chef Munoos stressed that soldiers would act under the direct supervision of border patrol agents. “If they fear, border patrol agents will be close to help,” he explained.

Days before the announcement, the Pentagon confirmed the placement of 1500 active troops on the border. During a recent trip to the area, Defense Minister Pete Heget said the troops would serve as a “multiplication of power”. The figure is expected to increase to 10,000.

Heget was accompanied by Trump’s border king Thomas Homan, who recently expressed powerlessness from unsuccessful large -scale raids. Homan is increasingly undergoing pressure, as Trump’s ambitious deportation promises to rely heavily on his leadership. The reports show that the president expressed dissatisfaction with the “low” number of deportations.

ICE is an average of 787 arrests a day in the last week of January – descending from the reported daily quota of the agency from 1200 to 1500 persons.