The Texas Tribune and Army Times obtained a planning document that shows Vietnam-era M113 armored personnel carriers will be sent to 10 locations along the Texas-Mexico border. An order was issued by the Texas Military Department on Thursday that states the Texas Guard will deploy the military vehicles and 50 soldiers will be trained to operate them.

This move by Governor Abbott is further escalation of his response to the Biden border crisis. After 18 months of Operation Lone Star with $4B from Texas taxpayers spent to finance its mission, the flood of illegal immigrants continues into Texas. Abbott tweeted about invoking the invasion clause of the U.S. and Texas constitutions earlier this week and the open borders crowd freaked out. The tweet, though, was a reference to a July executive order. His staff had to clear up the confusion. It was not a new policy being implemented by the governor.

I invoked the Invasion Clauses of the U.S. & Texas Constitutions to fully authorize Texas to take unprecedented measures to defend our state against an invasion.

I'm using that constitutional authority, & other authorization & Executive Orders to keep our state & country safe: pic.twitter.com/2Jt5HEMgp5

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 15, 2022

The armored vehicles are just one part of the plan.

The Texas Military Department said in a written statement Friday that in addition to the 10 armored vehicles, the Texas National Guard is increasing “aircraft flights and security efforts” on the border.

“These actions are part of a larger strategy to use every available tool to fight back against the record-breaking level of illegal immigration,” the department said. “The Texas National Guard is taking unprecedented measures to safeguard our border and to repel and turn-back immigrants trying to cross the border illegally.”

Since Operation Lone Star was implemented, Abbott has authorized other means of border barriers. For example, Operation Steel Curtain used dozens of steel shipping containers as a physical barrier. Department of Public Safety troopers lined the banks of the Rio Grande as manpower. Texas taxpayers, as well as private donors, have also funded parts of a border wall.

It is not clear why the governor is sending armored vehicles to the border at this time. Law enforcement along the border use Humvee vehicles.

Abbott takes criticism from border hawks and from open borders advocates. Ken Cuccinelli, former DHS acting secretary during the Trump administration, complains that Abbott isn’t doing enough. Abbott said he will deport illegal aliens to the border but Cuccinelli says that isn’t good enough – he needs to deport them all the way over the Mexican border. On Fox News Channel Saturday morning, Cuccinelli accused Abbott of garnering press and photo ops over border security, yet the leadership of the Department of Public Safety (DPS) does not agree with Abbott’s approach. Progressives accuse Abbott of violating human rights.

The move didn’t surprise Fernando García, the executive director and founder of the Border Network for Human Rights, who said Abbott is “trying to justify the narrative of the invasion” by casting asylum seekers and migrants seeking opportunities as violent criminals.

“For [Abbott] it’s easy to say there’s an invasion, and send troops to the border with a potential consequence of a major situation of human rights violations,” García said.

The Department of Justice civil rights department has launched an investigation into misdemeanor trespassing arrests of migrants.

Abbott now embraces using the word ‘invasion’ when speaking about the Biden border crisis. Others have encouraged him to do so for months. Some conservatives say that by using that terminology, Abbott could deport migrants without the federal government.

This week, coming off a wide victory over Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke, Gov. Greg Abbott has embraced the word like never before. In letters to the state’s county judges and President Joe Biden, Abbott has described the record number of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as an invasion. In a memo to the Department of Public Safety and the National Guard urging them to step up their border security efforts, he used the subject line “Defend Texas Against Invasion.” And on social media, he declared that he “invoked the Invasion Clauses of the U.S. & Texas Constitutions” to justify his border efforts.

Open borders advocates say it is Abbott being hateful and promoting dangerous tropes. What do you call it, though, when over 4 million apprehensions have been made at the southern border over the course of the last two years? That number doesn’t include the gotaways – those who run from law enforcement and are not recorded.

Governor Abbott is married to Texas’ first Hispanic first lady. He is neither hateful nor a dangerous man to legal immigrants. Why is it too much to ask that those who come here do so by legal means? Conflating legal and illegal immigrants is what the left does. Abbott is trying to do his job and protect the borders of Texas and the state’s sovereignty.

The Texas Military Department is doing what it can within its legal boundaries.

“These actions are part of a larger strategy to use every available tool to fight back against the record-breaking level of illegal immigration,” the department said in a statement. “The Texas National Guard is taking unprecedented measures to safeguard our border and to repel and turn-back immigrants trying to cross the border illegally.”

With the elimination of Title 42 now on the horizon, the Biden border crisis will only get worse. It’s no coincidence that after ignoring the Biden border crisis for two years, now all of a sudden Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is talking about blanket amnesty for over 11 million illegal aliens in America. This was the plan all along for Biden and Democrats. They have visions of future Democrat voters dancing in their heads. Forget immigration law and a secure southern border.