ST. LOUIS—Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s decision to send National Guard personnel and Missouri State Highway Patrol resources to Texas to work on border security measures there has support from GOP lawmakers in Missouri and the three leading Republican candidates to succeed him in office, but comes at a time that the Highway Patrol, like many law enforcement agencies around the country, is understaffed. 

Parson announced Tuesday that up to 200 National Guard units would head to Texas to work under Operation Lone Star, starting next month for the next ninety days, primarily to work on building border barriers and laying concertina wire.

What You Need To Know

  • Operation Lone Star, the state of Texas' border security effort will oversee the work of up to 22 Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers and up to 200 Missouri National Guard members, starting in March. The personnel will rotate in as needed. The Executive Order authorizing the deployment lasts for 90 days but could be extended 

  • Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said Tuesday that 14 other states were also sending resources or personnel to the border

  • Roughly 250 Missouri National Guard members are already in Texas as part of a separate deployment to help federal law enforcement authorities

  • The first 11 MSHP troopers, who have volunteered for the assignment, are spread out between 7 of the agency's 9 troop regions, the Division of Drug and Crime Control and General Headquarters. The MSHP is short 144 troopers statewide, but Parson has said existing services will not be short-changed

It was still unclear Wednesday where the National Guard contingent would come from, either in the form of a single unit or if it would be a collection of personnel from around the state. Roughly 250 Guard members are already serving in Texas under a separate federal call-up. 

Eleven State Highway Patrol troopers who have volunteered will head south and be paired with Texas State Troopers working on calls near the border. A total of 22 troopers will be part of the deployment.

According to the Highway Patrol, the first eleven volunteers are spread among seven of the agency’s nine troops along with the Patrol’s General Headquarters and the Division of Drug and Crime Control.

The Highway Patrol confirmed to Spectrum News that there are currently 144 vacancies across the state, down from 165 as of Feb. 1.

The highest number of vacancies by troop are Troop C in the St. Louis region with 21 openings as of Feb. 1 and Troop A in Kansas City, with 20.

There are two active academy classes with a total of 28 recruits who will graduate in April and June.

Parson said existing services won’t be short-changed as a result of the MSHP deployment and that it was necessary to take action because the issues at the border have created “a crisis” in Missouri.

“Some will say we have our own battles within our own Missouri borders. While that is certainly true, we would much rather do what we can to fight this fight on the southern border than let it take root in our own backyards. The more illegal crossings we can stop and fentanyl we can help seize in Texas means less Missouri families torn apart and less Missouri children losing their lives,” he told reporters Tuesday.

Officials in the St. Louis region have for years sought a more extensive presence for the Highway Patrol in the area.

In September 2019, the state sent MSHP and other personnel into St. Louis as part of a surge to fight violent crime while also supporting state and federal task forces in the region. In 2022, Dan Isom, then the city’s director of public safety, said he’d been pushing for help from the Patrol since his time as police chief years before.

“The city of St. Louis is of course part of the state of Missouri, we pay a lot of tax dollars, not only individually but corporate taxes that go to the state of Missouri but there is no permanent presence or enforcement of highway violations in the city of St. Louis and I do think that needs to change, that there needs to be a permanent presence,” Isom said at the time. “It would free our officers up to do traffic enforcement of course in the streets and in the neighborhoods and would free our officers up in general.”

Gubernatorial candidates respond

The three leading Republican contenders to succeed Parson—Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, and State Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, all support the decision to send resources to Texas and said they would do the same thing if necessary.

“We need to send men and women to the border to stop what’s happening, to stop the heroin, to stop the other drugs that are coming in–it’s the number one killer of individuals 18-44,” Ashcroft said. “When the federal government won’t do the job, the state needs to step in.”

At a candidate forum Saturday in Kansas City, Eigel and Ashcroft said they would declare an invasion under the state’s constitution. 

“We’ve got plenty of money to beef up our National Guard units so that if we need to energize them to start going after all the illegal immigrants in our neighborhoods and communities so we can deport them back to the border we can do that too,” Eigel said.

Kehoe said his administration would “not look kindly” on sanctuary cities supporting illegal immigration when it came time for the state budget.

“We’re not going to reward cities who want to take illegal immigrants in and house them and take resources away from our citizens,” he said.

On the Democratic side, both State Rep. Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, and Mike Hamra, a Springfield business owner, were critical of the deployment.

"Gov. Parson should be urging Congress to address the challenges we have with our border and not putting the burden on the men and women of the Missouri National Guard," Hamra said.

"It’s a shame Gov. Parson is focused on Texas while Missourians are reeling from another mass shooting in our state, we're a third of the way through session and the house hasn't even debated a bill to save our hospitals, and our schools remain the worst-funded in the country,” Quade said. 

If he's so worried about national security, he’d be here advocating for us to save American aluminum and 450 jobs at the Mag7 plant, or getting his party to function so we can solve the problems facing Missourians,” she added.