Louisiana plans to deploy 150 National Guard troops to the southern border in Texas amid a failure in Congress to secure a border deal.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry announced the move Thursday in Baton Rouge, adding himself to a growing list of Republican governors offering to assist Texas with resources amid that state’s battle with the Biden administration over border security.
“Because the federal government will not act, because the president will not do his job, because Congress refuses to put into place a solid immigration plan that protects this country and allows people to come in and out of this country the way it has been done since the beginning, then the states are going to act,” Landry said.
Texas Army National Guard soldiers convene by the southern border.
He said the federal government has essentially, “dog-whistled those who are trying to come into the country illegally by saying, ’Listen, if you swim across the Rio Grande we will let you in that way.’”
The deployment of Louisiana Guard troops would likely occur in March at an estimated cost of $3 million. The move still needs to be approved by the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature.
Troops at the border would not have authority to detain migrants, Brig. Gen. Michael Greer the director of the Louisiana Military Department, said Thursday.
Texas National Guard soldiers wait on a boat ramp where law enforcement enter the Rio Grande at Shelby Park, Jan. 26., in Eagle Pass, Texas. (Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images)
Besides Louisiana, Florida has sent around 1,000 members of its National Guard to the border.
Texas Gov. Abbott has been busy in a legal battle with the Biden administration over its measures to curb the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S.
