SAN ANTONIO — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott visited the Texas-Mexico border Monday to take a look at border security efforts.
The governor toured the Texas National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety border security assets. He also took an aerial tour of the border in Eagle Pass.
The governor was joined by DPS Director Steve McCraw and Adjutant General of Texas Maj. Gen. Thomas Suelzer.
This comes after a federal judge Friday ruled that Title 42 must stay in place after the Centers for Disease Control planned to end the Trump-era policy. The policy has been in place since the start of the pandemic with the goal of limiting the spread of COVID-19. The policy allows migrants crossing the border to be deported without an opportunity to seek asylum.
"We are doing everything we possibly can to prevent people from coming across the border and into the state of Texas," Gov. Abbott said in his remarks Monday.
Migrants have been expelled more than 1.9 million times since March 2020 under Title 42.
The governor also said he believes the cartels are influencing people to cross the border between official ports of entry in order to distract the Border Patrol officers.
"The cartels' goal would not be achieved if people were coming up through the ports of entry," Gov. Abbott said. "This is a battle that is going on with the cartels."
The Department of Homeland Security predicts up to 18,000 daily encounters with migrants — more than double the current average — when Title 42 ends.
U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays in Lafayette, Louisiana, ordered that the restrictions stay in place while a lawsuit led by Arizona and Louisiana — and now joined by 22 other states — plays out in court.