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← Signal: State & Power

Texas Gov. Abbott Maintains Border Emergency Declaration Despite Historic Drop in Crossings

Confirmed1 source · Oct 15, 2026

Abbott has renewed his border security disaster proclamation at least 69 times since 2021, including 21 times during Trump's tenure beginning in January 2025, even as apprehensions have fallen from 180,000 monthly to approximately 8,000.

Texas Gov. Abbott Maintains Border Emergency Declaration Despite Historic Drop in Crossings
Image via ProPublica

What happened

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last month renewed a border security disaster proclamation he first issued in May 2021, claiming illegal crossings posed an "ongoing and imminent threat." Since that initial declaration, Abbott has renewed or amended it at least 69 times—21 of those during Trump's tenure after January 2025. According to the Trump administration, apprehensions along the southwest border have dropped to historic lows, averaging about 8,000 per month in 2025, compared to over 180,000 monthly when Biden took office. Despite this shift, Abbott's office maintains that border security requires "constant, deliberate action" and that prior damage from immigration policies has not disappeared. State records show that since January 2025, two major border enforcement agencies—the Department of Public Safety and Texas Military Department—have awarded over $5 million in noncompetitive contracts citing the emergency for items including vehicles, rifles, and apartments.

Context

Abbott's ongoing emergency declarations allow him to bypass the state Legislature and consolidate executive power through mechanisms including shifting funds between agencies, suspending regulations, and awarding no-bid contracts—powers that would otherwise be restricted under Texas's constitutional design as a "weak governor" state. The border security declaration has become his longest continuously running emergency proclamation, outlasting even his COVID-19 declaration renewed for three years. Texas has allocated over $11 billion for border security under Biden and an additional $3 billion after Trump took office, with much of the funding flowing through the two agencies issuing noncompetitive contracts. Abbott's office received nearly $230 million last year to distribute through grants to local prosecutors and agencies supporting Operation Lone Star, his border enforcement initiative launched in March 2021. The disparity between the Trump administration's account of historic drops in illegal crossings and Abbott's continued invocation of an imminent threat raises questions about whether the factual basis for the emergency declaration remains valid.

What's disputed

Abbott's office did not respond to specific questions about the noncompetitive contracts or the justification for maintaining the emergency declaration amid significantly reduced apprehension numbers. Academic observers quoted note the unprecedented length and continuation of the emergency proclamation after conditions reportedly improved, but no direct contradiction of the factual data is reported.