Texas governor directs Texas border agents to coordinate with federal troops
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed the state Military Department today to deploy the Texas Tactical Border Force to the Rio Grande Valley to coordinate with the U.S. Border Patrol.
Departing from military bases in Fort Worth and Houston this morning, the force will surge more than 400 additional soldiers, as well as C-130s and Chinook helicopters, to join thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers already deployed on the border.
“Texas has a partner in the White House we can work with to secure the Texas-Mexico border,” Abbott said in a statement. “To support that mission, today, I deployed the Texas Tactical Border Force, comprised of hundreds of troops, to work side-by-side with U.S. Border Patrol agents to stop illegal immigrants from entering our country and to enforce immigration laws."
The Texas Tactical Border Force, launched in 2023, falls under the governor's Operation Lone Star, a multibillion-dollar effort to revamp border security in Texas. According to the release, the operation has deployed thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to the border, apprehended more than 530,000 illegal immigrants, arrested more than 50,000 criminals, and seized more than 622 million lethal doses of fentanyl — "enough to kill every man, woman, and child in the United States, Mexico, and Canada," it said.
Abbott sent letters to congressional leaders last week asking for more than $11 billion in reimbursement for the state's Border Patrol efforts, claiming the price tag was warranted due to "President Biden's refusal to do its job for the last four years."
"For the past four years, Texas held the line against the Biden Administration’s border crisis and their refusal to protect Americans. Finally, we have a federal government working to end this crisis," Abbott said today.
Vance’s political team signs on to run Ramaswamy’s bid for Ohio governor
CLEVELAND — Vivek Ramaswamy has landed Vice President JD Vance’s top political advisers to guide his soon-to-be-launched bid for governor of Ohio, a source involved in the planning told NBC News.
The hirings followed conversations between Vance and Ramaswamy over the last two weeks, said this person, who was granted anonymity to share details of private discussions.
The hirings also signal that Vance’s team, which overlaps in places with President Donald Trump’s, is fully behind Ramaswamy and that Vance himself is comfortable loaning out his advisers’ talents to him. Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur who has known Vance since their studies at Yale Law School, last week parted ways with the new Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, just as the federal spending watchdog project was getting off the ground.
“Expect Vivek to announce his candidacy in mid-February,” the source said.
Air Force says it will teach video on first Black pilots after DEI review
The U.S. Air Force said yesterday that it will resume instruction of trainees using a video about the first Black airmen in the U.S. military, known as the Tuskegee Airmen, which has passed review to ensure compliance with Trump’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Trump, who took office Jan. 20, has prohibited DEI throughout the U.S. government and the U.S. military. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was sworn in Friday, has made eliminating DEI from the military a top priority.
Reuters reported Saturday that the video about the Tuskegee Airmen, as well as another about civilian women pilots trained by the U.S. military during World War II, known as “Women Air Force Service Pilots,” or WASPs, were not being taught in basic training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland pending a review.
Trump says he wants to ‘clean out’ Gaza and move Palestinians to Jordan and Egypt
Trump said Saturday that he has asked the king of Jordan to take in more Palestinians, adding that they should leave to “clean out” the Gaza Strip.
The president’s comments, which key figures from Israel’s far right have taken as a boost, came as thousands of Palestinians waited to return to their homes in northern Gaza after the Israeli government accused Hamas of breaching a ceasefire agreement and refused to open crossing points.
“You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,” Trump said to reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday.
“I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change,” he added.
Trump's treasury secretary nominee is expected to face a vote today
The Senate is expected to vote later today on Trump's nomination of Scott Bessent to serve as treasury secretary. The vote is set for 5:30 p.m.
The chamber voted Saturday to advance Bessent's nomination to a final confirmation vote. Saturday's vote was 67 to 23, with more than a dozen Democrats joining Republicans in supporting Bessent.
Colombia tariff threat on hold after deportation agreement
The White House said Colombia has agreed to Trump’s deportation terms, after a standoff led to the prospect of a trade war. The saga began earlier yesterday when Colombia denied entry to deportation flights from the U.S., prompting Trump to threaten retaliatory tariffs, among other measures. NBC Alice Barr reports for "Early TODAY."
Here's what you missed yesterday
Yesterday, Trump threatened retaliatory tariffs, among other measures, against Colombia when the country blocked military deportation flights from the United States.
Last night, the White House said that Colombia "has agreed to all of President Trump’s terms, including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft, without limitation or delay."
Colombian Foreign Affairs Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said in remarks delivered in Spanish that the country "will continue to receive Colombians deported, guaranteeing them dignified conditions as citizens subject to rights."
Trump to attend House Republicans' retreat
Trump is expected to join House Republicans at their annual retreat, which starts today.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said earlier this month that the president would join his chamber at the retreat, which is taking place today through Wednesday at the Trump National Doral golf club in Miami.