Gov. Abbott announces plan for permanent military 'base camp' at Texas-Mexico border

Texas will build a permanent military installation along its border with Mexico, signaling that the Texas National Guard deployment there, which is part of Gov. Greg Abbott's $11 billion Operation Lone Star, is not likely to end any time soon.

Abbott, a third-term Republican, announced construction plans for the "Forward Operating Base" during a news conference Friday in Eagle Pass' Shelby Park, which for months has been a staging point for National Guard soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers in the state's effort to stem the tide of unauthorized crossings into Texas from Mexico.

"This will increase the ability for a larger number of Texas military department personnel in Eagle Pass to operate more effectively and more efficiently," Abbott said.

The facility will be able to handle up to 1,800 Guard troops with the capacity to expand to accommodate 2,300 troops, Abbott said.

"If we have surge needs, it will include individual rooms for soldiers," he said. "It'll provide a large dining facility, recreation theaters (and) things like Wi Fi."

Abbott acknowledged that the installation's construction will come at a cost to taxpayers, though he did not offer a price tag. But, he added, that having a permanent facility will mean that the state will not have to underwrite the cost of hotel rooms and other expenses for the soldiers and DPS troopers being sent to the border.

As he has done in recent appearances at Shelby Park, the governor was flanked by uniformed soldiers carrying rifles and standing alongside military vehicles. He also repeated what has become a mantra whenever he speaks about the record surge in unlawful immigration: President Joe Biden is not doing enough to secure the nation's southern border.

"The Texas National Guard (is) going above and beyond to make sure that they are showing the way that Texas will defend itself from the lawlessness that's been created by Joe Biden's refusal to follow the laws in the United States Congress," Abbott said.

More: How the border crisis sparked the worst Texas-federal relationship in modern memory

Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in the months after Biden replaced then-President Donald Trump in January 2021 and began rolling back many of his predecessor's hard-line border policies, such as Title 42, a COVID-19 era policy that allowed for asylum-seekers' quick expulsions based on public health concerns.

Friday's announcement continues the escalations that began when Abbott announced last April that he was installing a floating buoy barrier in the Rio Grande to deter unauthorized crossings, and later ordered hundreds of miles of coiled razor wire to be placed along the shoreline.

Both actions have led the Biden administration to sue Texas, saying that Abbott has encroached upon the federal government's authority to set immigration and border policies.

More: In Eagle Pass, Greg Abbott and GOP governors strike familiar themes about border unrest

Friday's event was Abbott's third in Eagle Pass inside of two weeks. On Feb. 4, he hosted about a dozen of his fellow Republican governors for a private briefing on conditions at the border and a news conference to reassert his belief that states have constitutional authority to take aggressive measures if they believe they are under an "invasion," which is how Abbott has framed the pace of unauthorized immigration.

A few days later, he was joined in Eagle Pass by several Texas GOP lawmakers from Texas, and he offered a similar message.

At Friday's event, Abbott said the first stage of the military compound's construction was underway on about 80 acres near municipally owned Shelby Park, which has been taken over by the state as part of the border initiative. The project will likely be an improvement in conditions for soldiers at the border, Abbott said.

"They have been living in conditions that were atypical for military operations," he said. "And now, because of the magnitude of what we're doing, because of the need to sustain and actually expand our efforts of what we're doing, it's essential that we build this base camp."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Military base being constructed at Texas-Mexico border, Abbott says