Texas Reduces Number of Troops at Southern Border Amid Response to Planned Protests
The Texas National Guard is deploying thousands of its troops in response to planned protests of the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign and is even scaling down some of its forces at the U.S. southern border at the same time.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday that he had deployed more than 5,000 of the state's National Guardsmen, mirroring President Donald Trump's playbook after he sent thousands of California National Guardsmen, as well as active-duty Marines, to respond to protests in Los Angeles.
"Peaceful protests are part of the fabric of our nation, but Texas will not tolerate the lawlessness we have seen in Los Angeles in response to President Donald Trump's enforcement of immigration law," Abbott said in a news release.
Read Next: The Marines Are in Los Angeles
Texas and Missouri were the only two states as of Friday afternoon where governors have publicly announced their National Guards will be deployed or called upon to respond or be prepared ahead of nationwide protests scheduled for this weekend. A grassroots series of demonstrations in communities across the U.S., dubbed "No Kings," is aimed at calling attention to the Trump administration's immigration actions, as well as the militarized response to protests in LA this week.
The Texas National Guard surge followed recent protests in Austin, where roughly a dozen demonstrators were arrested and four police officers were injured. As the state adds thousands of Guardsmen on orders, it appears there are some troops being taken off a long-standing border mission at the same time.
The Texas National Guard has continued to play a significant role in Trump's increased military presence along the U.S.-Mexico border through Operation Lone Star, which was launched in 2021. A U.S. defense official told Military.com that in recent days the number of troops on that mission has been reduced from approximately 4,300 to around 3,700 -- a roughly 600-person decrease.
Troops deployed for protest response by Abbott are not on federal orders, the defense official confirmed, meaning the mission is being funded by the Texas government and does not qualify those Guardsmen for expanded federal pay, benefits and legal protections amid potential trouble.
A spokesperson for Abbott's office declined to comment to Military.com on the changing numbers, or whether they were directly tied to the protest deployment in the state, only pointing to the governor's Thursday statement.
Neighboring border states have far different commitments to the southern border mission.
Hank Minitrez, a spokesman for the New Mexico National Guard, said none of the state's Guardsmen were currently supporting operations at the southern border and, likewise, would not be tasked with responding to potential protests planned for a dozen cities throughout the state.
New Mexico's Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Thursday during a news conference that the state would "never militarize the Guard in this way' referring to Trump's deployment of troops to LA over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.
The Arizona National Guard has a small number of Guardsmen on the southern border, but there had been no moves to reposition them for any planned protests in the state.
Trump's deployment of the California National Guard in LA despite Newsom's objections -- and an emergency motion filed in court Monday by the governor to stop Trump -- led to swift backlash from Democratic governors across the country.
"It's important we respect the executive authority of our country's governors to manage their National Guards -- and we stand with Gov. Newsom, who has made it clear that violence is unacceptable and that local authorities should be able to do their jobs without the chaos of this federal interference and intimidation," a Thursday statement from the Democratic Governors Association said.
Outside of Texas, as of Friday afternoon, the only other state to publicly announce it was preparing the National Guard to respond to Trump protests was Missouri.
Similar to Abbott, Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe said "while other states may wait for chaos to ensue, the State of Missouri is taking a proactive approach in the event that assistance is needed to support local law enforcement in protecting our citizens and communities."
There had not appeared to be any major civil unrest in Missouri leading up to Kehoe's announcement. Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested that troop deployments that occurred in response to LA protests could happen anywhere across the country.
The deployment of the military to respond to domestic protests and the Trump administration's increasingly aggressive immigration and deportation operations have raised alarm among defense and legal experts.
Notably, the Texas National Guard partnered with Immigration and Customs Enforcement under a 287(g) agreement, which allows them to perform certain immigration enforcement actions while under state orders.
Related: Pentagon Encourages Troops to Join Immigration Enforcement, Border Security Job Training Program
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