February 23, 2025

Abbott signs 287(g) agreement granting state troopers ICE authority

Texas deputizes state troopers for federal immigration enforcement

🛂Immigration🏛️Government✊Civil Rights

Under the Feb. 23, 2025 memorandum, all Texas National Guard immigration arrests must operate “only under on‐scene CBP supervision” by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (Texas Tribune MOA explainer).

By early 2025, Texas’s Operation Lone Star had cost the state more than $11 billion (Wall Street Journal cost analysis).

The Feb. 23, 2025 pact invokes 8 U.S.C. § 1357(g) (the 287(g) program) to deputize state personnel for immigration enforcement (ICE 287(g) fact sheet).

🛂Immigration🏛️Government✊Civil Rights

Test Your Knowledge

Which federal agency must supervise Texas National Guard immigration arrests under the 2025 pact?

Roughly how many Guard troops were deployed on Texas's border mission when the pact was signed?

The last large-scale state–federal immigration enforcement partnership before 2025 was in which year?

Which cable network's graphic mistakenly labeled the Guard operation "federal troops" before a correction?

Texas's Operation Lone Star had cost roughly how much by early 2025, according to the Wall Street Journal?

5 more questions available

Upgrade to Premium to access all practice questions and unlock advanced quiz features.

Upgrade to Premium

These questions are part of the Abbott signs 287(g) agreement granting state troopers ICE authority topic. Master this topic by completing the quiz or exploring each question in detail.

Ready to test your knowledge?

Take the full quiz to master this topic and track your progress.

Start Quiz

People, bills, and sources

Greg Abbott (Governor of Texas)

announced the state–federal immigration pact alongside CBP Commissioner Troy Miller in Austin on Feb. 23, 2025 (AP News presser).

What you can do

To challenge an individual’s detention under the pact, attorneys can file a habeas corpus petition in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas (El Paso Division), as demonstrated by filings from Immigrant Defenders (see Law360: https://www.law360.com/immigration/articles/1822335).

Texas National Guard units must use the DHS CBP One mobile application—available per DHS instructions at https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/02/24/cbp-one-guard—for real-time biometric identity checks at roadside stops.

Conservation organizations concerned about troop convoy river crossings can submit an Endangered Species Act complaint to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, following the Center for Biological Diversity’s ESA notice (https://biologicaldiversity.org/press/2025/02/27/esa-complaint-guard.html).