A Texas National Guard soldier watches over a group of migrants who crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Dec. 18, 2023.
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The Supreme Court announced that Texas can have state authorities arrest and deport undocumented migrants. A lower court has temporarily blocked the law.
Texas National Guard troops try to untangle a migrant caught in razor wire along the Texas-Mexico border on Jan. 31, 2024.
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Texans’ belief in their state’s exceptionalism has helped fuel support for the Republican state government trying to take border security and immigration enforcement into its own hands.
Buoy barriers are shown in the middle of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, on July 18, 2023.
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Setting up buoys in a section of the Rio Grande is more likely to result in migrants seeking pathways elsewhere, rather than deterring migration altogether.