Editor’s Note: The above video is from the October 7, 2025 KXAN Newscast.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Days after Gov. Greg Abbott announced he was allowing Texas National Guard troops to deploy to Chicago, KXAN received questions from viewers about whether sending National Guard members out of state would impact operations on the Texas-Mexico border.
On Sunday, October 5, Abbott posted on social media platform X Saying he had “fully authorized” the deployment of “400 members of the Texas National Guard to ensure the safety of federal officials.” By Tuesday, October 7, the troops had already arrived in Chicago.
All of this comes after President Donald Trump deployed federal forces to Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and other US cities in an attempt to curb violent crime.
Abbott’s response to
“You can either enforce full protection for federal employees or get out of the way and let the Texas Guard do it,” Abbott said in part in his response.
Abbott insisted on Tuesday that the border would remain secure.
“Texas only uses a small portion of our National Guard.” Abbott told Fox News America reports. “We still have thousands of National Guard troops at the border.”
Since Trump began his second term in January, confrontations on the southwest border have decreased significantly this year. According to the US Customs and Border Protection website.
Overall, encounter data is broken down and includes “Title 8 U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) apprehensions, Office of Field Operations (OFO) Title 8 inadmissibles, and Title 42 expulsions.”
Data from fiscal year Southwest land border encounters by month on the CBP website from October 2024 to October 2025 show that border encounters in the Southwest rose from 240,927 to 106,000.
“Title 42 expulsions refer to individuals encountered by the USBP and OFO who were expelled to the country of last transit or country of origin in the interest of public health under Title 42 USC 265 from March 21, 2020, to May 11, 2023,” the CBP website said.
Data is broken down by USBP and OFO demographics, as provided by the USBP:
- Accompanied minors (AM)
- Individuals in the Family Unit (FMUA)
- Single adults
- Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC)
A deeper breakdown of the Southwest Border encounters is available on the website USBP Website.