Washington, Dec 20 (TIWN) Texas authorities have deployed more than 400 US National Guard troops and other personnel to El Paso, a city bordering Mexico, after the Supreme Court temporarily halted the termination of an asylum-limiting policy during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The deployment aims "to safeguard the border and repel and turn back illegal immigrants", the Texas Military Office said in a statement.

Long lines of migrants were seen to have crossed border into El Paso from Mexico every day recently as the border policy, known as Title 42 which allows the US government to swiftly expel asylum-seekers at the border during the pandemic, was set to end on Wednesday.

Following the Supreme Court decision, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said the city is going forward as if Title 42 were no longer in place.

"We are seeing breaking news that Title 42 may not be lifted. One of the things we are going to do is we are going to proceed as if it is going to be lifted. We are going to make sure we are prepared," Leeser said at a press conference.

Since the city announced an emergency declaration over the migrants surge on Saturday, the federal government has released 6 million US dollars for El Paso, Leeser added.