Gov. Greg Abbott says he’s deploying National Guard troops across Texas ahead of planned anti-ICE protests.
In a post on X, the top Trump ally announced that the Texas National Guard will be stationed in key locations across the Lone Star State to “ensure peace and order.”
“Peaceful protest is legal. Harming a person or property is illegal and will lead to arrest,” the Republican governor wrote.
The move comes ahead of expected demonstrations in San Antonio on Wednesday and over the weekend in response to federal immigration raids. Large-scale anti-ICE protests, which began in Los Angeles, have since spread to cities across the U.S.
“Texas National Guard soldiers are on standby in areas where mass demonstrations are planned in case they are needed,” Abbott’s office said in a statement to local outlet KSAT. “Peaceful protests are part of the fabric of our nation, but Texas will not tolerate the lawlessness we have seen in Los Angeles.”
In Austin, 12 people were arrested Monday during a protest in which officers were hit by rocks and other missiles and police used tear gas to disperse a crowd making its way to the J.J. Pickle Federal Building, which houses an ICE office.
Another demonstration, dubbed “No Kings Day,” will take place in San Antonio and in cities across the country on Saturday to protest Trump’s military parade in Washington, D.C., the same day. The president has warned that anyone who disrupts the parade, which happens to coincide with his 79th birthday, will be met with “heavy force.”
Responding to the National Guard deployment, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said: “I empathize with the fear and fatigue this federal administration is causing within the San Antonio community, but we should heed the Chief’s calls to remain peaceful should you choose to demonstrate this weekend.”
Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles—without the approval of California Gov. Gavin Newsom—was accused of being an unnecessary escalation that further inflamed tensions in the city.
“If our troops didn’t go into Los Angeles, it would be burning to the ground right now, just like so much of their housing burned to the ground,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “The great people of Los Angeles are very lucky that I made the decision to go in and help!!!”
Newsom has compared Trump to “failed dictators” and warned that the “brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation, putting our people, our officers, and even our National Guard at risk.”
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