As the deadline for Title 42 hovers over border states, President Joe Biden has approved sending 1,500 U.S. troops to the southern border.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says the move will do nothing to stop illegal immigration.

Title 42 was issued at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and was designed to allow customs enforcement to send illegal aliens from “COVID-19 impacted” countries—such as Canada and Mexico—back to their country of origin without processing them.

However, Title 42 is set to expire May 11, with many border states and cities bracing for the worst.

The city of El Paso has already declared a state of emergency in expectation of the surge.

During a White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed that illegal immigration has decreased by more than 90 percent since Biden implemented the parolee program. However, according to current statistics from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol has already encountered over 1.2 million illegal aliens at the southwest border in Fiscal Year 2023. In the entirety of Fiscal Year 2022, Border Patrol agents saw more than 2 million.

According to officials, the troops would come from a variety of active duty Army units and would mostly serve administrative and transport roles. They would be armed but would not carry out law enforcement duties.

“For 90 days, these 1,500 military personnel will fill critical capability gaps, such as ground-based detection and monitoring, data entry, and warehouse support, until CBP can address these needs through contracted support,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement. “Military personnel will not directly participate in law enforcement activities. This deployment to the border is consistent with other forms of military support to DHS over many years.”

Gov. Greg Abbott wrote on Twitter that the deployed troops would largely be doing paperwork and would do nothing to stop illegal immigration, while noting that he had deployed 10,000 Texas National Guard troops to the border as part of Operation Lone Star.

That campaign has been criticized as well, however, for doing little to stop the influx of illegal aliens flooding the southern border. Border security advocates continue to call on Abbott to declare an invasion at the border and use the constitutional powers granted to the state to repel those attempting to cross illegally.

Texas Scorecard has premiered Exposed: Border Invasion, which details the crisis on the border and why it’s happening.

Emily Medeiros

Emily graduated from the University of Oklahoma majoring in Journalism. She is excited to use her research and writing skills to report on important issues around Texas.

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