Texas Gov. Greg Abbott took an unprecedented step on July 7 toward mitigating the border crisis, issuing an executive order that directs state law enforcement officers to apprehend illegal immigrants and return them to a port of entry at an international bridge.
“I ... do hereby authorize and empower the Texas National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety to respond to this illegal immigration by apprehending immigrants who cross the border between ports of entry or commit other violations of federal law, and to return those illegal immigrants to the border at a port of entry,” Abbott’s executive order states.
