ND National Guard to bolster Governors’ Border Strike Force in Texas
You’ve probably never heard of the American Governors’ Border Strike Force, but anyone who supports secure borders should salute them. The Biden administration’s open-border policy allowing millions of illegal aliens to cross into the U.S. led the GOP governors of 26 states to form the strike force to respond to the border crisis with national guard troops and other resources under their command in 2022.
In mid-May Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott issued an appeal to members of the Border Strike Force requesting assistance in “serving alongside our thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers” along the border with Mexico.
In the federal government’s absence, we, as Governors, must band together to combat President Biden’s ongoing border crisis and ensure the safety and security that all Americans deserve. The Emergency Management Assistance Compact empowers states to provide assistance to one another in times of disaster or emergency, both of which accurately describe the current border crisis.
As a result, Gov. Doug Burgum plans to dispatch some 100 members of the North Dakota National Guard to assist in securing the border in what Texas authorities call Operation Lone Star. Burgum said the states must act in the face of the federal government’s refusal.
“The threat to national security grows every day that the Biden administration abdicates the responsibility of the federal government to secure our borders – failing to enforce existing immigration laws and failing to dedicate the resources needed to stop the tide of illegal immigration and drug trafficking that endangers lives in communities across our country,” Burgum said.
The details of the deployment were listed in a news release from Burgum’s office.
The planned deployment is expected to last approximately 30 days and take place this coming fall. North Dakota will continue to communicate with Texas to determine the most effective timeframe for deploying North Dakota’s resources to the area.
The National Guard will be deployed under the governor’s emergency authority based on the risk to public safety due to drug trafficking and human trafficking, including deadly fentanyl making its way across the southern border and into U.S. communities. Funding to cover the cost of the deployment will be requested through the North Dakota Emergency Commission.
In fact, the North Dakota National Guard already has boots on the ground on the southern border at the request of the U.S. military, the second such deployment in the last two years.