Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said his working relationship with President Donald Trump is based on their shared belief in public safety. (Shelby Tauber/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
This comes as some 200 Texas National Guard troops are currently deployed to the Chicago area, tasked with protecting federal law enforcement officers as they carry out immigration enforcement operations.
For the past several weeks, the Chicago area has been rocked by anti-ICE demonstrations that have on several occasions boiled over into violent disruption. Large crowds of what DHS has called "violent rioters" have gathered outside an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, and have repeatedly blocked federal vehicles from exiting and entering the facility. Earlier this month, federal agents were rammed and trapped by 10 vehicles, where anti-ICE crowds had gathered for days. Nearly a dozen people were arrested.
Despite this, DHS has said its agents have received little to no support from Democrat leaders in Illinois or local and state law enforcement.
Against this backdrop, Abbott authorized Trump to deploy 400 of his Texas National Guard troops to trouble spots across the country under Title 10 authority. So far, only about half of those troops have been deployed to Illinois as a legal case against the deployment makes its way through federal court.
Then-South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem surveys the southern border with National Guard troops at McAllen, Texas in July 2021. Noem now serves as the head of the Department of Homeland Security under the Trump administration. (Office of South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem)
Though he gave no indication of what other collaborations Texas might undertake with the Trump administration in the future, he said that Texas remains ready for whatever is needed.
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"No one can accurately predict exactly what's going to happen in the future. What I can predict is how Texas will respond. And that is, whenever the country is in time of need, Texans will step up and help out any way we possibly can."
Fox News Digital's Greg Wehner, Matt Finn, Michael Tobin and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/texas-governor-reveals-reason-why-he-trump-have-been-working-so-closely-together