VIDEO: Texas Governor authorizes transporting migrants to US-Mexico border
(NBC) - Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday authorized state forces to apprehend and transport migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border.
The move gives the state powers normally reserved for federal agents.
And pushes the legal boundaries of the Republican's efforts to curb the rising number of crossings into Texas.
Abbot has been using Texas troopers and National Guard members to patrol the border for more than a year.
But had stopped short of authorizing them to take migrants into Mexico until now.
The announcement came two days after former Trump Administration officials and sheriffs in South Texas called on Abbott to declare that the state is being invaded and use extraordinary powers normally reserved for war.