PERRY RAISES STAKES IN BORDER SHOWDOWN

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is taking the next step today as he is expected to order 1,000 members of the Texas National Guard to defend the Rio Grande Valley amid an ongoing surge in illegal immigration. The plan, outlined in a memo leaked by a Democratic state legislator who opposes the idea, would put the troops in place over the span of a month with the aim of freeing federal immigrations and border officials to attend to the tens of thousands of migrant minors already in U.S. custody.

[Watch Fox: Texas Gov. Rick Perry holds press conference on border security at 3 p.m. ET.]