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TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — They came from Haiti, Venezuela and around the world, pulling small rolling suitcases crammed with clothing and stuffed animals to occupy their children. They clutched cellphones showing that after months of waiting they had appointments — finally — to legally enter the United States.

Now outside a series of north Mexico border crossings where mazes of concrete barriers and thick fencing eventually spill into the United States, hope and excitement evaporated into despair and disbelief moments after President Donald Trump took office. U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Monday that the CBP One app that worked as recently as that morning would no longer be used to admit migrants after facilitating entry for nearly 1 million people since January 2023.

Tens of thousands of appointments that were scheduled into February were canceled, applicants were told.

That was it. There was no way to appeal, and no one to talk to.

In Tijuana, where 400 people were admitted daily on the app at a border crossing with San Diego, Maria Mercado had to work up the courage to check her phone.

Tears ran down her cheeks after she finally looked. Her family’s appointment was for 1 p.m., four hours too late.

“We don’t know what we are going to do,” she said, standing with her family within view of the United States.

She left Colombia decades ago after it was overrun by drug cartel violence, heading to Ecuador. When cartels besieged her new homeland, the family fled again, in June, this time to Mexico, hoping to reach the U.S.

“I’m not asking the world for anything — only God. I’m asking God to please let us get in,” she said.

Immigrants around her hugged or cried quietly. Many stared ahead blankly, not knowing what do. A nearby sign urged people to get the CBP One app. “This will facilitate your processing,” it said.

CBP One has been wildly popular, especially with Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and Mexicans. Now, they were stranded at the U.S. border or deeper in Mexico.

Jairol Polo, 38, tried getting an appointment for six months from Mexico City before snagging one for Wednesday in Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas. The Cuban man flew Monday from Mexico’s capital to learn at the Matamoros-Brownsville border crossing that his appointment was canceled.

“Imagine how we feel,” he said dejectedly while smoking a cigarette.

People with morning appointments got through on schedule. Andrum Roman, a 28-year-old Venezuelan, was in the last group to cross the border with the CBP One in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas.

“We are a little safer now because we are here,” he said just before handing over his documents to U.S. authorities. “But you still don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said.

Another Venezuelan, Rober Caruzi, entered El Paso right behind him. “I reached the border twice and I was returned twice, but I didn’t lose hope,” he said.

By afternoon, the app was down.

CBP One is effectively a lottery system that give appointments to 1,450 people a day at one of eight border crossings. People enter the U.S. on immigration “parole,” a presidential authority that former President Joe Biden used more than any other president since it was introduced in 1952.

Its demise follows Trump’s campaign promises, and will please its critics, who see it as an overly generous magnet attracting people to Mexico’s border with the United States.

Despite a glitchy launch in January 2023, it quickly became a critical piece of the Biden administration’s border strategy to expand legal pathways while cracking down on asylum for people who enter illegally. Supporters say it brought order amid the tumult of illegal crossings.

Many migrant shelters in Mexico are now occupied largely by people who tapped their phones daily hoping for an appointment. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says about 280,000 people try daily for the 1,450 slots.

The demise of CBP One will be coupled with the return of “Remain in Mexico,” a remnant of Trump’s first term that forced about 70,000 asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court.

Matthew Hudak, who retired last year as deputy chief of the Border Patrol, said the demise of CBP One could encourage people to cross illegally. To be effective, it must be coupled with something like “Remain in Mexico,” he said.

“The message with CBP One being shut down is basically, ‘Hey we’re not going to allow you to show up; the doors are not going to be open.’ For that to be meaningful, there has to be some level of consequence if you bypass any lawful means and you’re doing it illegally,” he said.

News of CBP One’s abrupt end shocked migrants across Mexico.

Juan Andrés Rincón Ramos, a 19-year-old Venezuelan, cried with joy in early January when he got an asylum appointment through CBP One after months of trying. It was a lurch of hope after five years living in Peru and seven months in Mexico struggling to reach the U.S., where his brother lives in Pittsburgh.

In the makeshift Mexico City migrant camp where he lives, the fantasy of a life he dreamed for himself evaporated when he got the notification that his appointment had been canceled.

“It was a moment of hope, but it didn’t last,” he said. “Everyone trusted in the American dream, but we were all wrong.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump rolled out a blueprint to beef up security at the southern border in a series of executive orders that began taking effect soon after his inauguration Monday, making good on his defining political promise to crack down on immigration and marking another wild swing in White House policy on the divisive issue.

Some of the orders revive priorities from his first administration that his predecessor had rolled back, including forcing asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico and finishing the border wall. Others launched sweeping new strategies, like an effort to end automatic citizenship for anyone born in America and ending use of a Biden-era app used by nearly a million migrants to enter America.

Actual execution of such a far-reaching immigration agenda is certain to face legal and logistical challenges.

But in a concrete sign of how the changes quickly played out, migrants who had appointments to enter the U.S. using the CBP One app saw them canceled minutes after Trump was sworn in, and Mexico agreed to allow people seeking U.S. asylum to remain south of the American border while awaiting their court cases.

“I will declare a national emergency at our southern border. All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places in which they came,” Trump said in his inauguration speech to thunderous applause.
The CBP One app disappears

The online lottery system gave appointments to 1,450 people a day at eight border crossings to enter on “parole,” which Joe Biden used more than any president.

It was a critical piece of the Biden administration’s border strategy to create new immigration pathways while cracking down on people who enter illegally.

Supporters say it brought order to a chaotic border. Critics say it was magnet for more people to come.

By midday Monday, it was gone.

Migrants who had scored coveted appointments weeks ago found them canceled.

That includes Melanie Mendoza, 21, and her boyfriend. She said they left Venezuela over a year ago, spending more than $4,000 and traveling for a month, including walking for three days.

“We don’t know what we are going to do,” she said in Tijuana, Mexico, just on the other side of the border from San Diego.
Mexico agrees to take back migrants

The Trump administration is reinstating its “Remain in Mexico” policy, which forced 70,000 asylum-seekers in his first term to wait there for hearings in U.S. immigration court.

Mexico, a country integral to any American effort to limit illegal immigration, indicated Monday that it is prepared to receive asylum-seekers while emphasizing that there should be an online application allowing them to schedule appointments at the U.S. border.

Immigration advocates say the policy put migrants at extreme risk.

“This is déjà vu of the darkest kind,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge. She said policies like “Remain in Mexico” have exacerbated conditions at the border while doing little to address reasons migrants leave home in the first place.
Aiming to end the constitutional right to birthright citizenship

Anyone born in the United States automatically becomes a citizen, including children born to someone in the country illegally or in the U.S. on a tourist or student visa. It’s a right enshrined in the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War to assure citizenship for all, including Black people.

Trump’s executive order suggests that the amendment has been wrongly interpreted, and it would go into effect in 30 days — meaning it would not be retroactive.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups immediately sued, calling it “a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values.” Trump said he thought he had “very good grounds” for the order.
Migrants fear promised mass deportations

Trump is moving to realize his pledge of mass deportations of at least 11 million people in the country illegally.

One order restores efforts to pursue everyone in the country illegally, moving away from the Biden administration’s more narrow deportation criteria. He also wants negotiations with state and local governments to deputize police to enforce immigration laws.

As in his first term, Trump also wants to end federal grants to “sanctuary” jurisdictions — states and cities that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Rocio, a 43-year-old single mother from Mexico who lives in South Florida, said she’s worried about her 13-year-old son. His father was deported when the boy was an infant, and he’s afraid the same thing could now happen to her.

Rocio, who asked to be identified only by her first name over fears about being detained, said she worries about driving without a license but needs to work to survive.

“We have to be very careful,” she said.

Erlinda, a single mother from El Salvador who arrived in 2013, has signed over legal rights to her U.S.-born children, ages 10 and 8, to Nora Sandigo, who has volunteered to be the guardian for more than 2,000 children in 15 years, including at least 30 since December.

“I am afraid for my children, that they will live the terror of not seeing their mother for a day, for a month, for a year,” said Erlinda, 45, who asked to be identified by first name only due to fears of being detained.
A bigger military role in border security

Trump ordered the government, with Defense Department assistance, to “finish” construction of the border wall and send troops to the border. He did not say how many would go — leaving it up to the defense secretary — or what their exact role would be.

His executive orders suggested the military would help the Department of Homeland Security with “detention space, transportation (including aircraft), and other logistics services.” Trump directed the defense secretary to come up with a plan to “seal the borders” and repel “unlawful mass migration.”

Both Trump and Biden have sent troops to the border before.

Historically, they have been used to back up Border Patrol agents, who are responsible for securing the nearly 2,000-mile border, and not in ways that put them in direct contact with migrants.

Critics say using troops this way signals that migrants are a threat.
Cartels as foreign terrorist organizations

A Trump order paves the way for criminal organizations such as Tren de Aragua or MS-13 to be named “foreign terrorist organizations.” MS-13 is a transnational gang that originated in Los Angeles and gained a grip on much of Central America. Tren de Aragua is a Venezuelan street gang that has become a menace on American soil.

“The Cartels functionally control, through a campaign of assassination, terror, rape, and brute force nearly all illegal traffic across the southern border of the United States,” the order reads.

Trump is also raising the possibility of invoking a wartime power act for the first time since World War II to deport gang members who are deemed members of a foreign terrorist organization.
Pausing permission for refugees

Trump also is indefinitely suspending refugee resettlement. For decades, the program has allowed hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and persecution worldwide to come to the United States.

Trump also suspended the refugee program in his first term, and after reinstating it, slashed the numbers of refugees admitted. Under Biden, the program was rebuilt to a three-decade high.

The refugee program is the type of legal immigration that the Trump administration says it’s for, said Mark Hetfield, president of HIAS, one of 10 resettlement agencies helping refugees start new lives in the U.S.

The first Trump administration said it needed more vetting. This time, it says immigration is straining American communities, Hetfield said.

“This is a complaint that I have heard nobody raise,” he said. “It’s going to be devastating for people who followed the rules and are waiting to get out of danger.”
What else is Trump planning?

The incoming administration also ordered an end to releasing migrants in the U.S. while they await immigration court hearings, a practice known as “catch-and-release,” but officials didn’t say how they would pay for the enormous costs associated with detention.

Trump plans to “end asylum,” presumably going beyond what Biden has done to severely restrict it. It is unclear what the incoming administration will do with people from countries that don’t take back their citizens, such as Nicaragua and Venezuela.

___

Salomon reported from Miami and Spagat from San Diego. AP writer Julie Watson in Tijuana, Mexico, contributed to this report.

Millions of people across the northern Gulf Coast braced Tuesday for a rare winter storm that’s expected to scatter heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain around the Deep South as a blast of Arctic air plunges much of the eastern U.S. into a deep freeze.

The National Weather Service forecast between 3 and 7 inches (7.5 to 15 centimeters) of snow and sleet for parts of southern Mississippi and southeast Louisiana, including New Orleans, heading into Tuesday. In Texas, both Houston airports announced flight operations would be suspended starting Tuesday in expectation of hazardous conditions from the severe winter weather taking aim at a huge swath of the South.

Residents from Texas to north Florida were rushing to insulate pipes, check heating systems and stock up on emergency supplies.

Elsewhere, the East Coast endured a thick blanket of snow while people from the Northern Plains to the tip of Maine shivered in bitterly cold temperatures from the frigid arctic air mass that sent temperatures plunging well below normal Monday. Dangerously cold wind chills were expected to persist through Tuesday morning.

Around 40 million people, primarily across the southern U.S. from Texas to Florida, were under some type of weather hazard, including more than 21 million under a winter storm warning, said meteorologist Marc Chenard with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland. He added about 170 million people from the Rockies to points eastward were under either an extreme warning or a cold weather advisory.

Lakesha Reed, manager of Beaucoup Eats catering in New Orleans, had plans to fly out Tuesday to cook for a Mardi Gras-style event in the nation’s capital, but flights were canceled amid extreme cold. The 47-year-old New Orleans native said it was in the 30s early Monday afternoon in her port city, where near-freezing temperatures are rare.

“We can barely drive in the rain,” she said. “Last year, we wore shorts for Mardi Gras.”

The online tracker FlightAware reported nearly 600 flight cancellations by Monday evening within the U.S. or entering or leaving the country, along with nearly 6,500 delays. More than 1,700 such cancellations also were posted for Tuesday.

Winter storm warnings extended from Texas to Florida on Monday, with heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain expected around the region into Wednesday. Meanwhile, a state of emergency was declared Monday night across at least a dozen counties in New York as heavy lake-effect snow was expected around Lake Ontario and Lake Erie through Wednesday — with 1 to 2 feet (30 to 60 centimeters) possible — along with extreme cold temperatures.
Snow on the Gulf Coast

Ahead of the storm, governors in Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, declared states of emergency and many school systems canceled classes Tuesday.

The storm was expected to impact Texas starting Monday evening, spread eastward through Wednesday morning with heavy snow expected along and to the north of the Interstate 10 corridor with sleet and freezing rain in south Texas and southeast Georgia and northern Florida.

Forecasters warned the sub-freezing morning lows could threaten sensitive vegetation and exposed plumbing in areas unaccustomed to bitter cold.

Across Louisiana, officials urged residents to “stay home” and not “go sightseeing” during the storm, warning any road ice could make travel dangerous. Warming centers were being readied as towns sought to get homeless people off the streets. The weather service warned power outages were possible in areas of significant snow and ice accumulation.

Meanwhile, shoppers packed supermarkets, stocking up.

“Things were really nuts with everyone shopping and trying to get supplies in the past couple days, and most people were looking for the same stuff because they want to make something that will warm your blood, maybe a gumbo,” William Jordan in New Orleans said Monday.
Return of the Arctic blast

Much of the Eastern Seaboard is enduring some of the coldest temperatures this winter.

The cold weather promoted Donald Trump to take the oath as president Monday from inside the Capitol Rotunda, upending months of meticulous planning for a massive outdoor inauguration with crowds sprawling down the National Mall. The last time an inaugural ceremony was held indoors was Ronald Reagan’s in 1985.

Elsewhere, an area from the Rockies into the Northern Plains will see colder than normal weather over several days. Wind chills between minus 40 degrees (minus 40 C) to minus 55 degrees (minus 48 C) were expected through Tuesday morning across parts of the Northern Plains and as far east as parts of Illinois, with below zero wind chills affecting a broad swath of the country from Southern Plains east.

The weather service issued cold weather advisories across the Great Lakes region. The wind chill in Chicago overnight Monday was expected to be around minus 22 (minus 30 C).

Like earlier this month, this latest cold snap comes from a disruption in the polar vortex, the ring of cold air usually trapped about the North Pole.

In Texas, Jonathan LeBron, plumbing manager at Nick’s Plumbing & Air Conditioning in the Houston area, said the company began fielding calls Monday from homeowners worried about frozen pipes.

“There is a little bit of panic,” LeBron said. “I think they’re pretty aware of what’s going on. The last freeze was three or four years ago. They want us to go out there and make sure things are insulated accordingly.”

Houston’s low temperature on Tuesday will be about 18 (minus 8 C), according to the National Weather Service, or low enough for water to freeze in pipes, expand and then cause the pipes to burst. Several inches of snow were also possible.
Santa Ana winds expected to return to Southern California

In Southern California, where blazes have killed at least 27 people and burned thousands of homes, dry conditions and strong Santa Ana winds remained a concern.

TEXAS (AP)-Frigid temperatures engulfed the South on Monday ahead of a winter storm that’s expected to spread heavy snow and disruptive ice around a region from Texas to north Florida that rarely sees such weather, sending residents rushing to insulate pipes, check heating systems and stock up on emergency supplies.

In Texas, both Houston airports announced flight operations would be suspended starting Tuesday in expectation of hazardous conditions from an unusual blast of severe winter weather taking aim at a huge swath of the South including much of the northern Gulf Coast.

Elsewhere, the East Coast contended with a thick blanket of snow while people from the Northern Plains to the tip of Maine shivered in bitterly cold temperatures from an Arctic air mass that sent temperatures plunging well below normal Monday with dangerously cold wind chills. Continue reading Bitter cold spreads across much of the US as Texas and the South brace for rare winter storm

AUSTIN – The Dallas Morning News reports that shortly after Lubbock Republican Rep. Dustin Burrows was elected Texas House speaker, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick questioned the legitimacy of his victory and issued a legislative challenge. Perhaps it was a threat. Pass conservative measures or else, Patrick suggested in a social media post and news release. That approach is similar to the disdain he showed Beaumont Republican Dade Phelan, who declined to seek a third term as speaker after clashing with Patrick and grassroots Republican activists who accused Phelan of giving Democrats too much influence. It’s Groundhog Day in the Texas Legislature. Patrick, who presides over the Senate, is miffed because Burrows needed crucial support from Democrats to best Mansfield Republican Rep. David Cook, who was endorsed by the House Republican Caucus.

Needing help from Democrats in the Republican-dominated House, Patrick said, makes Burrows a “counterfeit speaker.” The Patrick-Burrows relationship, already off to a rocky start, will determine if the House and Senate can smoothly pass conservative priorities, or if some sought-after conservative legislation is lost through acrimony. Policy disagreements used to be an accepted part of the American political discourse, but this era stresses allegiance by party members and discourages fraternization with the other side. Based on Patrick’s social media to-do list for Burrows, there’s a strong chance for the House and Senate to be on the same page. The priorities he outlined for Burrows include school choice, a ban on taxpayer-funded lobbying, bail reform, posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms, banning critical race theory and “multiple election integrity bills.” “Each of these bills will be passed again by the Texas Senate,” Patrick said in the statement. “The voters will hold our new speaker accountable to keep his promise of being the most conservative speaker in Texas history.” Many House Republicans share the same priorities. They want to fortify the state’s power grid, make sure the state meets the demand for water and deliver another property tax cut. Most Republican lawmakers are also on the same page with other issues, including curbing illegal immigration and making sure Texas has the nation’s toughest anti-abortion laws.

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — A nurse who fled Cuba as part of the Caribbean nation’s largest exodus in more than six decades needed a place to stay in Mexico as she waited to legally enter the U.S. using a government app. A woman who had lived her whole life in the same Tijuana neighborhood was desperate for medical help after a dog attack left her with wounds to her legs.

A mutual acquaintance brought the two women together. Nurse Karla Figueredo stayed with Martha Rosales for three days in October 2023, waiting for a border appointment booked through the CBP One app and treating Rosales’ dog bites. When Figueredo left for the U.S., she got Rosales’ permission to give her name to other migrants.

Word quickly spread and Rosales made her home part of a roster of at least three dozen migrant shelters in her hometown on the U.S.-Mexico border, temporarily housing people who use the CBP One app.

“I told God that if they didn’t amputate my feet, I would help every Cuban,” said Rosales, 45, who was using a wheelchair after being attacked by five dogs until Figueredo helped heal her wounds.

CBP One has brought nearly 1 million people to the U.S. on two-year permits with eligibility to work but could go away once President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Figueredo, 25, now works as a medical assistant in the Houston area and keeps in touch with Rosales, who quit her job as a bank cleaner to focus on her migrant shelter. The people Rosales houses, mostly Cubans, refer to her as “’Tía Martha” (Aunt Martha) as she cooks pancake breakfasts, throws birthday parties and shuttles them to their CBP One appointments.

Supporters say CBP One has helped bring order to the border and reduced illegal crossings. But Trump has said he would end it as part of a broader immigration crackdown. Critics say it prioritizes a lottery system over people who have long lived in the U.S. illegally while paying taxes and people who have waited years for visas.

Dayron Garcia, a doctor in Cuba who heard about Rosales from a nephew, applied with his wife and children and plans to settle with a friend in Houston. He said Rosales’ house “feels like family” and that “CBP One has been a salvation.”

“It’s a guarantee,” Garcia, 40, said. “You enter with papers, with parole.”
CBP One began under Trump and changed under Biden

U.S. Customs and Border Protection debuted CBP One near the end of Trump’s first term as a way for customs brokers to schedule inspections and for visitors with short-term visas to extend stays.

The Biden administration extended its use to migrants to replace an opaque patchwork of exemptions to a pandemic-related asylum ban that was then in place.

CBP One is popular with Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians and Mexicans, likely because advocates in their communities promote it.

Illegal border crossings by Cubans plunged under CBP One from a peak of nearly 35,000 in April 2022 to just 97 in September.

Demand for appointments has far outstripped supply, with an average of about 280,000 people competing for 1,450 daily slots toward the end of last year, according to CBP. Winners must report to a border crossing in three weeks.
A night owl

Migrant shelters along Mexico’s border with the U.S. are now occupied primarily by people seeking the online appointments.

Rosales’ house is in a neighborhood with ramshackle homes where old tires are stacked to stop flash floods. Migrants watch television, play billiards, do chores and look after their children at Rosales’ house or a rental home nearby. Those who don’t yet have appointments work their phones for slots made available daily at eight U.S. border crossings with Mexico, a task likened to trying to buy Taylor Swift concert tickets.

Rosales works throughout the night. A helper drives to the airport in an SUV Rosales bought with retirement pay from her bank job.

Shortly after midnight, she shuttles guests from her house to Tijuana’s main border crossing with San Diego for the day’s first appointments at 5 a.m. She chats with them, smiles for photos and hugs people goodbye.

By 3 a.m., she is at a television station for a four-hour shift cleaning the newsroom and fetching coffee for journalists, who give her the latest information on immigration and the city.

She checks her phone for migrants needing shelter who heard about her on social media or from friends and family. Her contact list identifies them by size of party and appointment date: “3 on the 16th,” “6 on the 17th.”

Rosales, one of 13 children, dropped out of school in third grade. Reading the Bible taught her enough to barely understand texts, which she generally responds to with voice messages or calls.

Enrique Lucero was Tijuana’s director of migrant affairs when she came to City Hall for advice. He helped Rosales establish a legal entity to raise money and made himself available for emergencies, such as when a woman missed her CBP One appointment to give birth. Lucero talked to CBP to make sure the woman and her baby got in.

“She worries about them. She cries for them,” Lucero said.
The exodus from Cuba

Border arrests of Cubans increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and after anti-government protests in 2021. Nicaragua had recently eased rules for Cubans to fly from Havana, allowing them to avoid walking through the Darien Gap, a dangerous jungle in Colombia and Panama. By the spring of 2022, Cubans eclipsed all nationalities but Mexicans in illegal crossings.

“CBP One came like a gift from God,” said Yoandis Delgado, who flew to Nicaragua in 2023, paid a smuggler $1,000 to reach southern Mexico and was repeatedly robbed by Mexican authorities while trying to reach the U.S. border. “CBP One gave us a sense of possibility, of hope.”

Delgado, a cook in Cuba, said Rosales’ home and neighborhood don’t stand out for people seeking to prey on migrants, giving a sense of security he wouldn’t get at hotels or other shelters.

“She lives in the same condition that we do, not any better,” Delgado said after a pancake breakfast. “She cries for everything that happens to us, for what we have suffered to get here from Cuba.”
A grim future for CBP One

Biden administration officials portray CBP One as a key success in its strategy to create legal pathways at the border while deterring illegal crossings. They note people in life-threatening circumstances can come to a border crossing without an appointment to plead their case.

Anxiety is spreading among migrants in Mexico who fear Trump will end CBP One. Even those in the U.S. are uneasy because parole expires after two years.

The Trump transition team didn’t respond to a question about CBP One’s future, but his allies say it’s overly generous and encourages immigration. A bill that stalled in the Senate in 2023 would have prohibited using the app to admit migrants.

Figueredo, the nurse who helped Rosales, plans to get a green card under a 1966 law that applies to Cubans. She says she and her partner, a barber, came to “continue to grow professionally and support our future children.”

She writes Rosales often, telling her that her job is “crazy” busy and asking about her health. “I hope you’re very happy,” she wrote.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will declare a national emergency, send troops to the southern border, deport undocumented immigrants en masse and reinstate a policy requiring asylum seekers to wait their cases in Mexico — and Gov. Greg Abbott will be a key partner, he said during his inauguration on Monday.

“He was a very popular governor and now he’s an unbeatable governor because of [his] border policies,” Trump said of Abbott in remarks with his supporters after his formal inauguration speech. Abbott was among the crowd of supporters and Trump spent several minutes speaking directly to him during his remarks, recommitting to building a border wall. “Now that you have a new president, that wall will go up so fast.”

Texas contains more of the southern border than any other state, stretching over 1,200 miles from the Gulf of Mexico to El Paso. Abbott has already made efforts to militarize the border under Operation Lone Star, deploying the National Guard to South Texas and spending billions to initiate a state constructed border wall. It’s unclear the scale of Trump’s plans for sending the military to the border, but he said “we will do it at a level that nobody’s ever seen before.”

Speaking with his supporters after the formal Inaugural ceremony, Trump praised Abbott as a “leader of the pack” on border security. He recounted partnering with the governor during his first presidency to build physical barriers on the southern border and invited the governor to continue partnering to build more.

“You didn’t do that for politics. You did because you wanted to do the right thing. But I’ll tell you, it sure as hell worked for politics too,” Trump said.

The White House said in a statement that “The Armed Forces, including the National Guard, will engage in border security, which is national security, and will be deployed to the border to assist existing law enforcement personnel.” The National Guard has been deployed on the border before, but the use of active duty military to enforce immigration policy could run afoul with a law that generally bars the military from civilian law enforcement, said U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso.

“Much of what Trump is seeking to do, especially if he plans on violating U.S. law would make us less safe as a nation,” Escobar, who previously served on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a text message.

Trump had promised to hit the ground running “on day one” issuing executive orders on policies directly impacting Texas, including to harden the border, end diversity and inclusion programs, loosen energy production restrictions and deport millions of undocumented immigrants. The logistics of his proposals are not yet clear but a mass deportation would require extensive resources that Congress would have to grant. Over 1.6 million undocumented immigrants live in Texas alone.

His team also previewed moves to end birthright citizenship for children of foreigners born in the United States. That move in particular is almost certain to face legal challenges. The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees everyone born on U.S. territory to be citizens.

“With these actions we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense,” Trump said during his speech shortly after being sworn in.

Trump was sworn in around 11 a.m. Central time, officially starting his second presidential term. He made his remarks from inside the Capitol Rotunda, where he railed against the previous administration as neglecting its responsibility on the border, public health and education.

“The golden age of America begins right now,” Trump said. “My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal. And all of these many betrayals that have taken place and to give people back their faith, their wealth and indeed their freedom. From this moment on, America’s decline is over.”

During his speech, Trump also thanked Black and Hispanic voters for “the tremendous outpouring of love and trust that you have shown me with your vote.” Trump won a larger share of Black and Hispanic voters last year relative to in 2020, though a majority of both groups voted for Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump’s inroads with Hispanic voters were particularly apparent in South Texas, where several counties that had been Democratic strongholds for generations voted for Trump.

“In places like South Texas, Hispanic Americans played a pivotal role in their victory because we believe in the promise of the American Dream. Our community understands the value of hard work, family, and opportunity,” U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, a McAllen Republican who was one of the first Hispanic Republicans elected from South Texas and a Trump ally, said in a statement.

Trump is bringing a handful of Texans into his Cabinet to execute his agenda. Trump tapped former Texas state Rep. Scott Turner to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, former Gov. Rick Perry policy director Brooke Rollins to lead the Agriculture Department and former U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe of Heath to lead the CIA. Trump named Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who has recently moved to Texas, as his pick for Director of National Intelligence and Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta to be ambassador to Italy.

Several other Texans were circulated as potential administration picks. Trump said last May that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton would be “great” as U.S. Attorney General. Paxton is a close ally of the president-elect, filing a lawsuit to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election that Trump lost. U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Houston was interviewed early in the transition as a potential contender for Defense Secretary. Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi got tapped for the attorney general post, and Fox News host Pete Hegseth became Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon.

The Texans are among the less controversial picks for his administration, meaning they are likely to be confirmed by the Senate swiftly. None of them have faced the personal criticisms of other Trump picks, though Rollins’ nomination hearing is not slated to take place until later this week. Ratcliffe and Turner both went before Senate committees last week in largely cordial hearings.

“On Nov. 5, Texans voted resoundingly for a new direction for our country, delivering a decisive victory to President-elect Donald Trump and helping to secure Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress. Given this mandate, it is imperative the Senate swiftly confirm the team the president-elect has selected to implement his agenda,” Sen. John Cornyn wrote in an op-ed in The Dallas Morning News. “I’m thrilled to see that three outstanding Texans have made the list thus far.”

The Trump White House will also be looking to Texas for some of its staffing. Paige Willey, communications director for Paxton, will join the White House as deputy assistant for economic policy and Ryan Baasch, associated deputy Attorney General, will be a special assistant for economic policy, according to Bloomberg.

Perhaps the most famous Texan in Trump’s orbit is a recent transplant to the state: Elon Musk. The tech mogul who bankrolled much of Trump’s election efforts will head the newly minted Department of Government Efficiency, which is essentially an unofficial advisory role. The entity has never existed before and remains undefined. Musk has become a close confidant of the president-elect, influencing his fiscal and social policy priorities. Musk was seated close to Trump on the Inauguration stage.

Hundreds of Texans traveled to Washington for the Inauguration and accompanying celebrations. Several thousand attended a black tie Texas-themed gala hosted by the Texas State Society on Sunday night. In addition to numerous members of Congress and both Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright were in Washington.

Trump has also vowed to pardon hundreds of participants of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Over 60 Texans were charged for their role in the attack. Trump has washed his hands of responsibility for the riot and said he was looking to make “major pardons” of his supporters who were involved.

“I was going to talk about the J6 hostages, but you’ll be happy because you know it’s action not words that count,” Trump said Monday. “And you’re going to see a lot of action on the J6 hostages.”

Originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Sunday said the Legislature should amend the language of the state’s near-total abortion ban to address confusion over when doctors may terminate pregnancies.

“I do think we need to clarify any language so that doctors are not in fear of being penalized if they think the life of the mother is at risk,” Patrick said on the WFAA program “Inside Texas Politics.”

Patrick is the first major state elected official to offer support for changing the state’s abortion law in this legislative session. The Texas abortion ban went into effect in 2022 and prohibits abortions in all circumstances except when the life of the pregnant person is at risk.

Some doctors have said the law is unclear, however, as to how ill a pregnant person has to be to qualify for an abortion. Punishments for violating the abortion statute include up to life in prison and a fine of at least $100,000.

A group of 111 Texas obstetrician-gynecologists in November sent a letter to state leaders urging them to reform the law, which they said as written “threatens physicians with life imprisonment and loss of licensure for doing what is often medically necessary for the patient’s health and future fertility.”

The letter cited two recent investigations by ProPublica of pregnant women in Texas who died after doctors delayed treating their miscarriages, which can conflict with the abortion law, which prohibits doctors from ending the heartbeat of a fetus. More than a dozen medical experts consulted by the news organization concluded that the deaths of Josseli Barnica, 28, and Nevaeh Crain, 18, were preventable.

The reporting earned a rebuke from Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, who said in an op-ed published in the Houston Chronicle that the Texas Health and Safety Code clearly defines when a pregnant patient is ill enough to qualify for an abortion. Hughes said doctors had performed 119 abortions in life-saving situations since the law took effect.

Patrick’s comment is not the first time Republican members of the Senate have suggested tweaking the law. Sen. Bob Nichols of Jacksonville said in 2022 said he would support extending abortion access to victims of rape. The Senate has passed no such bill.

How much of a priority this is for Patrick, who as president of the Senate wields tremendous power of the body, remains to be seen. He made no mention of reforming the state’s abortion laws in 78 interim priorities he sent to Senate committees in April and September of last year.

This article was originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the original article, click here.