Texas Governor Greg Abbott is asking other states for reinforcement. After the Texas Governor’s plea for help after three consecutive years of a crisis at the border, multiple states have issued their support to reinforce the border between the US and Mexico. Virginia’s Governor Glenn Youngkin, Governor of South Carolina Henry McMaster, and West Virginia’s Jim Justice all promised they would provide the manpower needed to send National Guardsmen to the border. These three governors join Florida, Mississippi, Iowa, Tennessee, and Nebraska’s plans to deploy their National Guard if needed, for a total of 8 Republican-led states promising support to ensure border security.
FOX NEWS: South Carolina, West Virginia join states sending National Guard troops to southern US border
By Timothy H.J. Nerozzi; June 1, 2023
A growing list of state governors are sending National Guard personnel to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Wednesday that he will be deploying approximately 100 soldiers to the Mexican border. They will be joined by approximately 21 support personnel.
Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina and Jim Justice of West Virginia made similar pledges of manpower to the southern border later the same day.
The deployment of soldiers to southern border regions is largely a response to pleas from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has requested help from other states in dealing with the historic migrant crisis now into its third year.
Florida, Mississippi, Iowa, Tennessee and Nebraska are already on board with the marshaling of National Guard resources.
Tennessee announced a deployment of 100 National Guard members, while Nebraska announced the deployment of 10 state troopers.
Florida announced the availability of more than 1,100 assets and resources, including 101 Highway Patrol personnel, 200 Department of Law Enforcement officers, 800 National Guard soldiers, emergency management personnel, 17 unmanned drones and 10 vessels, including airboats.
All eight contributing states are run by Republican governors.
“The ongoing border crisis facing our nation has turned every state into a border state,” Youngkin said in a statement.
He continued, “As leadership solutions at the federal level fall short, states are answering the call to secure our southern border, reduce the flow of fentanyl, combat human trafficking and address the humanitarian crisis.”
There were more than 1.7 million migrant encounters in FY 2021, and more than 2.3 million in FY22.
There have so far been over 1.4 million migrant encounters in FY 23 recorded until the end of April, with five months still left of the fiscal year.
Numbers surged ahead of the ending of Title 42 earlier this month, and there were widespread concerns that the termination of the order — which allowed for the rapid expulsion of migrants at the border due to COVID-19 — would see an even bigger surge following.
However, numbers have so far decreased sharply since the order.
Photo: John Moore