Texas Governor Calls for National Guard Deployment at U.S.-Mexico Border

By Jon Herskovitz

AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Governor Rick Perry and a prominent U.S. lawmaker have amplified Republican calls for the deployment of National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in response to a rising influx of Central American nationals entering the country illegally.

During a House Homeland Security Committee field hearing in McAllen, Texas—situated in the Rio Grande Valley, the area most affected by the recent surge of children and families—Perry remarked on the state’s escalating expenses to address the crisis. He indicated that Texas anticipates an additional expense of $1.3 million weekly through the end of the year, following a cumulative expenditure of $500 million since 2005 aimed at bolstering border security.

"The rapid influx of illegal immigrants has strained border resources that were already insufficient," Perry stated, suggesting it may bolster his profile as a potential contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

Since October, over 52,000 unaccompanied minors from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras have been apprehended while attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, which is double the figure from the same timeframe the previous year. Many more have been caught with parents or other adults.

U.S. immigration officials attribute this humanitarian crisis to a combination of extreme poverty, gang activity, and drug-related violence in Central America, alongside misinformation from human smugglers claiming that children reaching the U.S. border would be allowed to remain.

In light of overwhelmed detention and processing facilities in Texas, immigration authorities have started relocating some of the migrants to overflow sites elsewhere in the Southwest for better management and processing.

Perry suggested deploying 1,000 Texas National Guard troops to assist with immigration enforcement while training more U.S. Border Patrol agents.

Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, echoed this sentiment, urging President Obama to dispatch National Guard forces to allow Border Patrol agents to focus on their primary mission: securing the border.

Democrats have previously pushed back against similar proposals from Republicans, arguing that simply increasing troop numbers would not effectively resolve the situation. Critics contend that many migrants are not trying to evade capture but arrive intending to surrender to border agents.

In response to Perry’s criticisms of the administration’s handling of illegal immigration, White House spokesman Josh Earnest suggested that the governor should instead encourage his party to support a comprehensive immigration reform bill that has stalled in the Republican-controlled House after being passed by the Democratic-led Senate last year.