AUSTIN (KXAN) – Gov. Greg Abbott has called up Texas National Guard members to at least two Texas cities, in response to immigration-related protests, officials from Austin and San Antonio have confirmed.
It isn’t the first time Abbott has brought in guardsmen in reaction to protesters.
The governor previously activated more than 3,800 Texas National Guard members, including Army National Guard soldiers, in 2020 amid the George Floyd protests and the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Texas Military Department.
The National Guard was not called in for the pro-Palestine student protests at the University of Texas at Austin last year, according to AP News, but more than 100 Department of Public Safety troopers were deployed, The Texas Tribune reported.
Abbott said this current deployment of Texas National Guard is meant to “ensure peace & order.”
“Peaceful protest is legal,” Abbott said in a social media post. “Harming a person or property is illegal & will lead to arrest.”
Sparking protest
Protests over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and raids erupted in Los Angeles, California, in the first week of June. Protesters took to the streets of downtown L.A. The protests took a chaotic and violent turn, with cars being set on fire and a freeway getting blocked off. Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to tamp down the crowd.
The disorder prompted Trump to order U.S. National Guard troops to the city and ready hundreds of Marines, which the state government and governor denounced.
Police detain more than 20 people on first night of curfew aimed at protests in downtown Los AngelesSince then, protests popped up in cities across the country, including Austin. In Texas, Abbott’s readying of the Texas National Guard in San Antonio and the Capital has drawn concern.
Austin Police officers deployed in response to a lingering group of protesters who were part of a march earlier in the evening of June 9, 2025. (Grace Reader/KXAN Photo)Annie Bright, a St. Mary’s Law School visiting professor and constitutional and immigration law expert, said Abbott’s move raises constitutional concerns.
“The ability to express discontentment with the government's policies is so fundamental to the idea of self-governance and Democracy in the United States,” said Bright. “It's how citizens tell the government that they're not happy or not in agreement with a policy.”
She noted the distinction between the situations in California, where the state government has vehemently opposed it, and Texas, where Abbott has directed the state military’s activation.
Regardless of which level of government makes the orders, Bright said the militarization of the policing of protests can have a chilling effect on the exercise of free speech. If simply protesting against federal immigration enforcement policy is considered a threat to the government worthy of a militarized response, that’s a “serious problem,” she said.
“That is how we exercise our right to freedom of speech, is by organizing, coming together, and making a statement, so that an elected official understands that communities that are affected by the policies that are being carried out are not in agreement,” Bright said.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson confirmed National Guard soldiers were “prepared to assist” DPS if necessary. While Watson said he supports peaceful assembly, and the humanity and value of the immigrant community, he warned that destructive acts are wrong and only hurt the city.
City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, Austin’s Mayor Pro Tem, condemned Abbott’s National Guard activation.
“We’ve seen this playbook before, military force used to threaten and silence communities demanding justice,” Fuentes said in a statement. “To every Texan exercising their constitutionally protected free speech: know your rights, stay vigilant, and protect one another.”
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