On Sunday night, Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott revealed that he had signed a “memorandum of understanding” (MOU) between the State of Texas and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that immediately grants Texas National Guard soldiers the authority to make immigration-related arrests across the state.
On his X social media account, Abbott wrote that the agreement is “effective immediately” and “boosts man power for border security.” He then linked to an article in Breitbart, which first reported on the memo.
The far-right rag wrote that the order “will allow the soldiers to perform roving patrols and exercise all the duties of an immigration agent so long as a US immigration officer or Border Patrol agent accompanies them.” The MOU suggests one immigration officer for every four soldiers.
This is a major attack on the democratic rights of not only immigrants but of all workers. Since 2021, Texas National Guard soldiers, as part of Abbott’s “Operation Lone Star,” have worked in concert with immigration police to further militarize the border, but they have not participated in arrests. Soldiers constructed portions of the border wall, ran concertina wire and provided logistical and surveillance support.
With this new MOU, some 3,000 soldiers in the Texas National Guard are allowed to accompany and participate in “enforcement” operations with immigration police.
Abbott’s MOU with CPB is in direction violation of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which strictly limits the military’s ability to participate in domestic law enforcement operations. Under the pretext of a false “invasion,” Trump and his Republican allies, with Democratic support, are paving the way to establish martial law and wipe out basic civil liberties of citizens and non-citizens alike.
Abbott’s order follows Trump’s previous executive actions aimed at treating immigrants as “enemy combatants” and underscores that the current policies are not the result of Trump alone but represent a definite class policy.
On January 20, Trump issued an executive order that declared a “national emergency” at the Southern border and ordered the US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) to assist the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in obtaining “full operational control” of the border. Shortly thereafter, the Pentagon sent some 1,600 active-duty US Army and US Marine Corps personnel to the US-Mexico border, in addition to the 2,500 soldiers already deployed.
On Monday, in furtherance of the mass deportation operation, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan traveled to Fort Bliss, Texas. Leaving no doubt that the US military will play a central role in the deportation operation, Hegseth said, “Border security is national security. Guys and gals of my generation have spent decades in foreign countries guarding other people’s borders. It’s about time we secure our own border.”
On his social media account, Hegseth posted photos of himself and Homan receiving a “briefing” from US Army generals at US Northern Command, which he said entailed “homeland defense and security priorities at the southern border.”
Hegseth also posted photos of US Marines landing in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Trump has ordered the expansion of the migrant processing facility located on the island.
Growing protests
In the face of deportations and threats of arrest, thousands of people continued to protest the bipartisan war on immigrants in the United States. Thousands of businesses were closed on Monday in solidarity with the “Day without Immigrants” protest, which called on immigrant workers to withhold their labor and money, while students stayed home from school.
For the second day in a row, major protests in Los Angeles caused the closure of US Highway 101. As of this writing, riot police had been deployed and declared the protest an “unlawful assembly.”
In Iowa City, Iowa, hundreds of people, many of Hispanic and Mexican descent, protested against ICE and the Trump administration on Monday.
Hundreds of students and workers in southwest Detroit also marched in solidarity with immigrants on Monday. Many waved Mexican flags and carried signs that read “Immigrants are not criminals” and “No to deportations.”
On Sunday, reporters with the World Socialist Web Site spoke to several people at the San Diego protest in defense of immigrants.
A young worker said she came to the protest because “my family is of Mexican descent. We work our butts off here. This is our country too, and nobody is illegal on stolen land. No one deserves to get separated.
“We do not agree with Trump taking away birthright citizenship,” she said. “Our parents came here because they wanted us to be born here. That was a privilege, and Trump is not going to take that away at all. I was born here, my family was born over there, and that’s what makes us Mexican American, and nobody’s going to take that away from us.”
A worker at a nearby college noted that Trump “is starting with immigrants,” but these attacks are “coming for everyone. Soon nobody will be safe, and right now it might not be you, but it will be.”
Another worker told the WSWS, “They are violating our rights. What we used to hold as ‘Constitutional,’ now, none of that is safe.” She added, “They are trying to mask it under these ‘detention centers,’ but we know what they really want to do, forced labor.”
Rachel, a third generation-born American, noted that in the 1930s “1.8 million Mexican Americans were deported to Mexico, and 60 percent of those were American-born. It’s our responsibility to know our history to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
She said that while there is “fear in our communities and in our schools, we have a right to be here.”
Rachel said, “It’s not just Trump. It’s not just the Republican Party. This all needs to be overhauled. We need to overturn it all. Why are we okay with society having such disparity? Disparity between the oligarchy and the working class. I think it’s going to take a full revolution. ... We need to rethink how we operate as a society, how we communicate with each other. What it will take is international involvement.”