Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday night that he would deploy the National Guard “across the state” as anti-ICE protests hit major cities.
Protests against President Donald Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown started earlier this week in Dallas and Austin, and more demonstrations are planned for San Antonio on Wednesday and Saturday. In a post on X, Abbott said he was mobilizing the National Guard as a precautionary measure “to ensure peace & order.”
Texas National Guard troops will be on “standby in areas where mass demonstrations are planned in case they are needed,” according to Abbott’s office.
Six men arrested during the Austin demonstration were charged with felony criminal mischief, resisting arrest, among other offenses, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
“Peaceful protesting is legal. But once you cross the line, you will be arrested,” Abbott wrote on social media early Tuesday morning, adding, “FAFO,” the acronym for “F*** Around and Find Out.”
The protest in Dallas on Monday turned “tense” as some demonstrators clashed with police officers, The Dallas Morning News reported. After sunset, authorities deployed pepper spray to disperse the crowd and appeared to make some arrests.
In Austin, the state’s capital, police used pepper spray and tear gas to disperse a group of protesters who were ignoring warnings to clear out of the street, KXAN Austin reported. Officers with the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Austin Police Department arrested more than a dozen people during the protest Monday night, according to Abbott.
Protests, some of which have turned into riots, have spread to cities across the country after anti-ICE rioters attacked law enforcement officers and damaged businesses and public property in Los Angeles last weekend. President Trump deployed the National Guard to L.A. on Saturday and then sent in reinforcements days later, including 700 Marines.
On Monday, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said that 40-year-old Elpidio Reyna, a resident of Compton, California, was the man seen on a viral video throwing rocks at law enforcement vehicles, injuring one federal officer and damaging government vehicles.
“Elpidio Reyna can run, but he can’t hide. He threw rocks at federal officers leaving a command post in Paramount on Saturday, a brazen attack caught on film and that could have resulted in deaths. Reyna, 40, is charged with assault on a federal officer, and faces up to eight years in prison if convicted,” Essayli posted on X.
A video shared with the post shows a man wearing a motorcycle helmet pelting rocks at federal vehicles on Saturday afternoon.
Reyna has not yet been arrested, and the FBI is offering $50,000 for information that leads to his capture.
On Tuesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) filed an emergency motion to block President Donald Trump’s deployment of Marines and National Guard troops to Los Angeles. A judge quickly rejected the motion the following day. (RELATED: Federal Judge Denies Newsom’s Attempt to Block National Guard Deployment to Los Angeles)
