EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Hundreds of specially trained Texas National Guard soldiers were deployed to El Paso Tuesday afternoon, March 26.
Two planes carrying about 200 members of the Texas Tactical Border Force landed just days after rising tensions led to physical unrest at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Photos by Tony Pina/KTSM
A spokesperson for the Texas Military Department told KTSM the Tactical Border Force specializes in civil disturbance. Other details are limited from the Texas Military Department but border security remains a concern for many state officials.
The increase in border enforcement comes as controversial immigration law Senate Bill 4 is still being argued in courts. It also comes after hundreds of migrants made their way through concertina wire to an opening in the border wall on March 21 here in El Paso.
That same afternoon El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said he had confidence in the City’s relationship with Border Patrol and would not actively seek the state’s help for border enforcement.
“You’re talking about the National Guard. It’s something that we didn’t request, and we won’t request from the state of Texas,” Leeser said.
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