WESLACO, Texas – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will hold a press conference Wednesday on the state’s border security efforts in light of the Biden Administration’s elimination of Title 42.
The news conference is scheduled for 3 p.m. and will be held in Weslaco in the Rio Grande Valley. KSAT.com will be livestreaming the event, which you can watch in the video player above.
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According to an Associated Press report, Abbott is expected to announce at the news conference “unprecedented actions” to deter migrants from coming to Texas. The AP report said that former Trump administration officials are pressing Abbott to declare an “invasion” along the U.S.-Mexico border and give thousands of state troopers and National Guard members sweeping new authority to turn back migrants, essentially bestowing enforcement powers that have been a federal responsibility.
While Abbott did not elaborate on what steps he will announce, according to a report on WFAA.com, a Democratic member of the Senate Committee on Border Security said the governor plans to direct DPS troopers to detain and deport migrants along the Texas border.
“The federal government is not doing enough, not putting enough resources on the border to be able to deal with all the migrants coming across,” State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa said in the report. “So, we have a responsibility to the citizens of the State of Texas to be able to provide security as necessary when laws are broken.”
The governor will be joined at the news conference by Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw, Adjutant General of Texas Maj. Gen. Thomas Suelzer, and Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd.