Governors From Several States Send National Guard Troops To Southern Border

Since the use of the pandemic-era Title 42 to turn away asylum seekers was terminated more than a month ago, Illegal border crossings are down about seventy percent, according to the Department of the Homeland Security.

Still, there are more than 3,000 migrant encounters along the U.S.-Mexico border each day, which helps explain why Republican governors from more than a dozen states, including Oklahoma, are still moving forward with plans to send contingents of their respective National Guards to Texas to assist with Governor Greg Abbott's Operation Lone Star.

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt announced his decision to join the effort just over two weeks and this week, during a visit to the nation's capital, defended the decision, in part, by asking a question of the Biden administration: "Why are we making border security, national security, a political issue?"

Governor Stitt said the unprecedented number of illegal border crossings since President Biden took office is a direct result of purely political decisions Biden and his administration have made.

"All they need to do is change one policy and it’s simply Remain in Mexico," said Stitt in an interview on Wednesday. "If you want to seek asylum to the U.S., you have to stay in Mexico. President Biden canceled that day one in office."

The administration ended President Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy, saying that it was limited in its effectiveness, as well as cruel and inhumane. If anything is 'purely political', they said, it’s red states sending their Guard men and women to Texas.

But Gov. Stitt said he went to Texas himself and visited with Gov. Abbott and he believes Operation Lone Star is making a real difference.

"And so I decided to send 100 troops down to the border to support that effort," Stitt explained.

And the entire Oklahoma congressional delegation believes Stitt made the right decision.

"I support it a thousand percent," said Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) in an interview this week.

Mullin said the administration has turned a blind eye to border security and to the deadly fentanyl that's being smuggled into the country.

"So, I commend our governors for going down there and trying to do something," Mullin stated. "Every person that they stop that has drugs on them. It is some drugs that we keep off our streets in Oklahoma."

Stitt estimates the deployment will cost Oklahoma taxpayers about $1.6 million. Fiscal hawk Rep. Kevin Hern believes it's a smart investment, given the potentially greater cost of inaction.

"I think every state now is recognizing that there are costs that are associated with there being a wide open border," said Hern (R-OK1) in a recent interview, "whether it's deaths in the state or apprehensions, whether it's illegal cartels and gang members, there are a lot of things going on, and so it's better to try and stop it at its source than allow it to come into your states and have to deal with it with law enforcement."

It's not yet clear when the Oklahoma guard deployment will begin.