Texas proposes new Border Protection Unit

By Miroslava Lem Quinonez, Staff writer

Published Feb 10, 2025

FILE – Migrants congregate on the banks of the Rio Grande at the U.S. border with Mexico on Dec. 20, 2022, where members of the Texas National Guard cordoned off a gap in the U.S. border wall. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)

Texas would solidify its law enforcement role along the border with the establishment of a Border Protection Unit within the Department of Public Safety under legislation proposed in the House.

The Border Protection Unit would consist of commissioned and noncommissioned agents along with other employees authorized by the legislature, according to Texas House Bill 354. The unit will be headquartered in the border region, and the governor shall appoint a unit chief, which must submit reports on operations and expenditures to ensure accountability.

The bill, authored by Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Webster, would coordinate border protection efforts to detain transnational cartel operatives, and unit officers will have the authority to arrest and detain individuals crossing the border unlawfully.

About half of the U.S.-Mexico border– up to 1,254 miles– is in Texas.

A member of the National Guard patrols along a stretch of border wall, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Brownsville, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) (AP)

The ongoing illegal immigration saturates law enforcement agencies, and resources are redirected, leaving other areas of the border unprotected, according to the South Texas High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) annual threat assessment.

Texas had 45.8% of nationwide encounters, the total number of apprehensions, inadmissibles and expulsions, along its border from October 2020 to June 2024. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported a total of 2,135,005 enforcement encounters in the Southwest land border in 2024.

Language in the bill warns that Texas is threatened by the ongoing criminal activity from cartels operating throughout the state. According to the Department of Justice, law enforcement officers in South Texas encounter larger quantities of marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin than other officers along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Law enforcement cannot adequately fight fentanyl and human trafficking operations along the Texas-Mexico border as resources are being directed to address the illegal entry of people into the state, according to the bill.

Texas has joined the Trump administration in its efforts to secure the border.

Texas has spent over $11 billion on border security, Gov. Abbott wrote in a letter he sent to U.S. Congressional Leadership and the Texas Congressional Delegation requesting the federal government to reimburse the sum. Operation Lone Star was launched in 2021 by Gov. Greg Abbott, which deployed the Texas National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety to the southern border.