Border officials are preparing for an increase in migrant crossings before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
On Tuesday, the Texas National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety will conduct exercises at the southern border in Eagle Pass.
These preventive preparations began last week, with groups splitting to cover more land along the vast southern border.
“We want to conduct these exercises to send a clear message for anyone who is thinking about crossing or entering the city of Texas that we’re gonna make it very difficult,” Lieutenant Chris Olivarez, spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety told NewsNation.
Mass migration response training is taking place around the Texas border, especially in the Rio Grande Valley and El Paso.
Earlier Tuesday, a group of about 100 migrants, including those from Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, unlawfully entered Eagle Plaza on federal land, leaving Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) officers powerless.
Over the weekend, Texas DPS agents apprehended 154 migrants and 20 unaccompanied minors crossing the Rio Grande illegally. The US Border Patrol received them after they crossed federal and private land without any barricades or landowner authorization.