OAN’s Roy Francis
1:50 PM – Friday, May 26, 2023
As the crisis at the southern border increases, Republican-led states have answered Governor Greg Abbott’s call for help and are sending troops, law enforcement, and other resources to help with securing the border.
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Tennessee and Nebraska have joined Mississippi and Florida in pledging to send personnel to the border.
On Thursday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee (R-Tenn.) announced that 100 National Guard will be deployed from the state to the southern border, along with 10 state troopers from Nebraska.
“America continues to face an unprecedented border crisis that threatens our nation’s security and the safety of Tennesseans,” Lee said. “The federal government owes Americans a plan to secure our country, and in the meantime, states continue to answer this important call to service. I am again authorizing the Tennessee National Guard to help secure the Southern border, and I commend these troops for providing critical support.”
“Our nation has a serious and unchecked threat on its hands following President Biden’s decision to end Title 42,” Nebraska Governor Jim Phillen (R-Neb.) said. “Nebraska is committed to using every tool in its tool box to help stop the influx of illegal immigration at our southern border. Illegal immigration hurts our nation’s security, undermines the rule of law, and threatens the wellbeing of our state.”
Texas has seen the largest number in illegal border crossings since early 2021, and it has only increased.
According to Fox News, in Fiscal Year 2021, there was more than 1.7 million encounters along the border, which increased to more than 2.3 million in FY 2022. 1.4 million encounters have been recorded between the beginning of FY 2023 and April.
Texas has been directing resources to secures its southern border under Operation Lone Star. However, with the increase in encounters along the border, and the Biden administration ending the Title 42 health order, other states are now also sending resources and aid to Texas.
Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) has also announced that Florida will be sending additional resources to Texas as well.
“The impacts of Biden’s Border Crisis are felt by communities across the nation, and the federal government’s abdication of duty undermines the sovereignty of our country and the rule of law,” he said. “At my direction, state agencies including law enforcement and the Florida National Guard are being deployed to Texas, with assets including personnel, boats and planes. While Biden ignores the crisis he created, Florida stands ready to help Texas respond to this crisis.”
Florida’s more than 1,000 assets were ready to assist, which included 101 Highway Patrol personnel, 200 Department of Law Enforcement officers, 800 National Guard soldiers, 17 unarmed drones and 10 vessels, the governor’s office had announced.
Governor Tate Reeves (R-Miss.) said that his state is preparing National Guard troops to aid in securing the border as well, and explained that what happens at the border has far reaching consequences and does not only affect border states.
“What happens at the border doesn’t stay there. Drugs and people are trafficked to every state in the nation – including Mississippi,” Reeves said. “To keep Mississippians safe and limit the impact of our nation’s open borders, the Mississippi National Guard’s 112th Military Police Battalion has been mobilized and is supporting Customs and Border Protection officers and agents along the Southwest border.”
However, the Biden administration has slammed the mobilization of aid and resources. Department of Homeland Security official Blas Nunez-Neto said that the mobilizations are politically motivated and are unneeded.
“Outstanding coordination is taking place at the local level each and every day. We have seen, however, at times that Gov. DeSantis and [Texas Gov. Greg Abbott] take actions that are being done really for purely political reasons and that do not involve the kind of coordination that we really need to see at the border,” he told reporters last week. “We are confident in our men and women on the front lines, ability to conduct their border operations in a safe, humane and secure manner. And we again call on the governors to make sure that any steps they take are done in coordination with our federal personnel.”
Meanwhile, Abbott (R-Texas) has expressed his gratitude for the aid from other Republican governors.
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