ST. LOUIS—Missouri Gov. Mike Parson confirmed Friday that 48 Missouri National Guard members have started a deployment in Texas as part of an executive order to assist Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star border security mission.

Parson announced the plans last month to send up to 200 National Guard members and 22 Missouri State Highway Patrol Troopers as part of the effort. 

The first 11 Troopers have been on the ground since March 1 and reported for their first shift on March 4 where they have paired with a Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper.

According to statistics released Friday by Parson’s office, Missouri Troopers have had 193 “undocumented migrant encounters” where they intercepted people crossing the border and held them until federal agents took custody, and 16 “undocumented migrant turn-backs”, where Troopers have spotted people who ended up going back across the border to Mexico. 

Five MSHP Troopers responded to a March 8 helicopter crash that killed a Border Patrol agent and two members of the New York National Guard near Rio Grande City, Texas.

The governor said most of the Missouri National Guard members were based in Lamar and Clinton. They arrived Tuesday and began working Thursday  “assisting in the construction of physical barriers, manning observation posts, and supporting security patrols, as needed,” a news release said.

Some of the personnel will rotate out next month and be replaced by more National Guard members. 

Parson’s executive order, signed Feb. 20, lasts for 90 days but could be extended if necessary.

A separate group of roughly 250 Missouri National Guard members are also at work as part of a federal deployment for border security.