Donald Trump the Megathread part II - Mod Warning added to OP 10/1/26

They hadn't, given they hadn't detained anyone.

However, the actual limits of federal military authority in this sort of situation have never been tested in court. Whilst they are prohibited from carrying out law enforcement actions, there is a long-standing precedent and a slew of opinions from the Office of Legal Counsel dating back to the 60s and 70s (itself relying on caselaw going back as far as the late 1890s) that federal troops can 'remove obstructions to federal functions' (It's the same precedent which includes protection of federal facilities). Very arguably, someone assaulting an ICE official or maybe a civilian federal employee trying to get into the federal building (As per the 1895 case authorising military use to allow mailmen to get to work), is an obstruction to a federal function so some form of intervention is authorised. If that's 'grab until he can be arrested' or 'beat him up until he goes away but don't arrest him' has not been determined anywhere.

The problem is all the lawyers over on /r/law keep looking to civilian law enforcement precedent as that's what they're used to when the military are relying on precedent related to Title 10 military code (Specifically 10 USC 252). Not the first time. The amount of discussion I've had with civilian police agencies who believe I can't order them to go arrest certain people (in my non-federal capacity) without a judge signing off (or in Texas without any paperwork at all and just a verbal order) proves to me that civilian lawyers have limited knowledge of military-based laws. I get it, they are very obscure laws and they eventually see the light once I walk them through the code, that doesn't make it any less valid.

Abbott has historically had a tendency to lean towards "better to have and not need, than need and not have" to anything from hurricane relief to civil disturbance ops. Since Texas is a big place, 'calling out the guard' isn't that quick a thing to do. I live three hours from my unit in a straight shot (My previous unit was 8 hours away). Add to that time to get home, pack, report to home station, move to a training site, get equipped with riot gear, get the refresher training, and then deploy to wherever (Dallas, Austin, San Antonio etc, none of those locations are within 90 minutes of my unit), 'same day' requests get difficult. Consider folks were complaining about the 8 hours it took the deploy the D.C. Guard on 6 January. A lot of us can't physically get to wherever in 8 hours even before any delays or discussions get involved, so the headstart is necessary.

I would also observe that the Texas Guard has thousands of personnel on duty at the Southern Border who are already being paid and can be transported. Eagle Pass, where a lot are based, to Dallas is a 7-hour drive in a car, let alone a military vehicle. To Houston is "only" six hours.

For other precedent, I've personally spent a week in California just sitting around an armory in the Central Valley waiting to see if anyone wanted us, and though Guardsmen were called up during the BLM riots in Texas, I don't recall any of them actually being sent onto the streets, local/state law enforcement seemed to do well enough.