As the country wrestles with another surge of migrants at the southwest border, President Joe Biden has announced the deployment of 1,500 military service members to the area to help with containment, reported NPR.

However, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) slammed the effort during an interview on Fox News.

Greg Abbott's View

The conservative leader of the Lone Star State said the 1,500 troops would end up doing "paperwork," rather than partaking in real efforts to keep the border safe.

Abbott continued by claiming the number Biden was sending was insufficient, and that "15,000 or 150,000" would have been more appropriate.

Host Megyn Kelly asked why Abbott was happy to accept this type of help from former President Donald Trump, but not Biden. Abbott said it was because Trump sent troops to help with the crisis, rather than for optics.

He also stressed that illegal border crossings reached a low point under Trump, while Biden's policies had made them skyrocket.

Fox noted a statement by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre that the 1,500 troops "will not be performing law enforcement functions or interacting with immigrants."

Instead, she said, their function will be to "free up Border Patrol agents to perform their critical law enforcement duties."

Title 42

This conversation comes in the context of Title 42, the immigration control rule that is set to expire on May 11.

Title 42 grants the government the authority to suspend the entry of people or goods into the country on public health grounds.

This authority was invoked in March 2020 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under the Trump administration, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the Biden administration has repeatedly attempted to repeal it in the context of the pandemic's dwindling relevance in terms of public health, reported CBS News.

A recent report from CBS8 revealed that thousands of migrants are likely to pour across the southern border when the measure expires.

The article featured interviews with foreign nationals who had already been waiting at the border for days for Title 42 to end.

One of these individuals, a man from Jamaica, said he fled his home because of violence and instability.

The report noted that, once Title 42 goes out of use, it will be replaced by another federal migration law called Title 8.

Title 8 will offer migrants the chance to apply for asylum, which Title 42 did not. However, under Title 8, migrants who are expelled and caught trying to enter the country again will face more serious consequences than they would have under Title 42.