Photo: Armored Vehicles, National Guard Appear on Texas Border Amid Abbott's 'Steel Wall' Deployment

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told US senators that he was "horrified to see" viral videos depicting horseback Border Patrol agents chasing down Haitian migrants at the US-Mexico border. Mayorkas also acknowledged that the US would be increasing the frequency and number of repatriation flights for detainees.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott took to social media on Wednesday to announce that Texas Department of Safety personnel and the National Guard have been working to secure southern border cities such as Del Rio, Texas.

Join me in thanking the Texas National Guard for their daily work to secure our border.

Some work with the Texas Dept. of Public Safety to secure towns like Del Rio.

Others work to prepare for building a border wall & barriers.

Others guard remote areas.

⁦@TexasGuard⁩ pic.twitter.com/0bqloeRpo2

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) September 23, 2021

Additional photos published by the Texas Governor on Wednesday showed armed US personnel monitoring an area along the Rio Grande River.

Texas National Guard Soldiers & Texas Department of Public Safety personnel guard an area on the Rio Grande River to STOP illegal border crossings into Texas.

We will continue to surge state resources to secure the border & address the chaos created by the Biden Administration. pic.twitter.com/dh416SpX4z

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) September 22, 2021

A varied collection of armoured vehicles and trucks were seen along the border as well.

Abbott argued to Fox News on Tuesday that his state government was covering tasks that should be left to the administration of US President Joe Biden.

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers secured the Del Rio sector of the southern border.

We’re doing Biden’s job for him.

I’m headed to Del Rio today.

Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/tmNeazLiuj

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) September 21, 2021

"What we did, we put hundreds of Texas Department of Public Safety cars and created a steel wall — a steel wall of [Texas] DPS vehicles — that prevented anybody from crossing that dam that you've seen people walk across", he said, adding that authorities had "effectively" regained control of the border.

The deployment to the Del Rio area comes on the heels of reports that indicated thousands of Haitian migrants were arriving with the hopes of being allowed to gain refugee status within the US as many were leaving their homes over violence and racial discrimination.

A spike in US immigration was recorded shortly after the start of the Biden administration once the new president began striking down many Trump-era immigration policies. Skyrocketing figures and traffic at border crossings even prompted American officials to urge them to not make the dangerous journey to the US-Mexico border.