Just a few days after Republican governors gathered in the Texas border city of Eagle Pass, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb has committed some of his state’s National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Effective immediately I am deploying the Indiana National Guard to support the ongoing border security mission in Texas,” Holcomb wrote on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. “Federal negligence enforcing immigration law and the failure to secure our country’s border jeopardizes national and economic security, affecting every state, including #Indiana.”
According to a news release, Indiana is sending 50 troops to support Texas’ Operation Lone Star border security program. They're set to arrive in mid-March and will be deployed to Texas for 10 months, according to the release.
“We’ve worked too hard in Indiana attacking the drug epidemic for more Hoosier lives to be put at risk by a constant supply of killer drugs spilled over an open U.S. border. The only way to resolve this is to stop the historically high flow of illegal immigrants crossing the border,” Holcomb wrote.
Other states, including Florida, have committed National Guard troops as well.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, meanwhile, wrote on X that he intends to install more razor wire along the border. The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that the Biden administration may cut the concertina wire, but that ruling has not deterred Abbott.
“More National Guard & razor wire barriers are coming to the Texas border. We’re doubling our efforts to expand the areas where we are denying illegal entry into Texas. Illegal immigration is now going down in Texas while increasing in CA & AZ,” Abbott wrote.
At Abbott’s direction, the Texas National Guard has blocked U.S. Border Patrol from accessing Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, a site of frequent border crossings. Last week, a group of Eagle Pass residents sent Abbott an open letter demanding he relinquish control of the park.