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 The deployments began 18 months ago when thousands of migrant
families and unaccompanied youth began streaming over the border
mainly from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. They were due to be
completed at the end of December.
Abbott, a Republican, also ordered an increase in boat patrols on
the Rio Grande River and air surveillance. Earlier this year, the
state legislature approved an $800 million two-year plan to add 250
public safety officers to the border region.
Despite a slowdown late last year, the U.S. Border Patrol reported
that more than 10,000 unaccompanied children were apprehended
crossing the U.S. Southwest Border in October and November, about
double the same period a year ago.
 Nearly 6,500 of the children were caught crossing into the Rio
Grande Valley in Texas, compared to 3,200 a year earlier.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently opened two
new shelters for the migrant children in Texas and one in California
to help address the increase.
About 500 children from ages 12 to 17 are being held at a religious
retreat camp in Ellis County 40 miles south of Dallas and 200 more
are expected to arrive by the end of the week, the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services said.
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The majority of the children are from Honduras, Guatemala and
Ecuador, department spokeswoman Andrea Helling said. They can spend
up to 30 days waiting for a relative to sponsor their release and
receive a date for an immigration hearing, she said.
"Most of them are fleeing economic hardship and gang violence,"
Helling said. "A lot of them come across the border with phone
numbers of family, ready to call."
Texas officials would not say how many National Guard troops would
stay or for how long. About 1,000 troops patrolled the state's
southern border at the height of the influx in 2014, Texas National
Guard Lieutenant Colonel Travis Walters said.
(Reporting by Marice Richter and Lisa Maria Garza; Editing by David
Bailey, Diane Craft)
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