Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) said Monday he is deploying up to 1,000 Texas National Guard troops over the next month to the US-Mexico border in his state to combat the flood of criminals and unaccompanied minors streaming over the border.
Perry, a vocal critic of the White House’s response to the border crisis — and who is mulling a second presidential run in 2016 — said the state has a responsibility to act after “lip service” from the federal government.He rejected suggestions that Texas was militarizing local communities by putting National Guard troops on the ground or that crime data along the border doesn’t justify additional resources.
The deployment will cost Texas an estimated $12 million a month. Texas Adjutant General John Nichols said his troops would simply be “referring and deterring” immigrants and not detaining people — though Nichols said the National Guard could if asked.
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Completing this poll grants you access to Shark Tank updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to this site's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.“We think they’ll come to us and say, `Please take us to a Border Patrol station,” Nichols said.
Gov. Perry has repeatedly asked Obama to send the National Guard to the border and Monday said he would act since the Federal Government hasn’t.
Since October, more than 57,000 unaccompanied children and teenagers have entered the U.S. illegally — more than double compared to the same period a year earlier. Most have been from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, where rampant gang violence and intense poverty have driven tens of thousands of people outside their borders.Their numbers overwhelmed Border Patrol facilities in the Rio Grande Valley, leading Perry and the Texas Department of Public Safety to argue that Border Patrol agents distracted by groups of children and families were leaving gaps.
