Published February 19, 2024
Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) announced the deployment of the South Dakota National Guard to the “war zone” along the southern border, which will take place later this spring.
The deployment of Noem’s state National Guard will consist of sending 60 soldiers to the southern border over the course of three months. Noem stated she was sending the soldiers to the border not “to facilitate an invasion” but for them “to stand up and stop it.”
“The border is a warzone, so we’re sending soldiers,” Noem said in a press release. “These soldiers’ primary mission will be construction of a wall to stem the flow of illegal immigrants, drug cartels, and human trafficking into the United States of America.”
Noem’s press release noted that border encounters reached over 300,000 for the first time in the country’s history in December. The press release also stated that monthly border encounters have gone up by 452% since President Joe Biden took office.
In January, Noem said she was willing to send the South Dakota National Guard to the Texas border in support of Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX). It comes as the Texas governor and Biden have feuded over border policy, with the feud escalating in the wake of a Supreme Court decision that allowed the Biden administration to cut razor wire along the border.
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SOURCE: www.washingtonexaminer.com
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Republican Gov Kristi Noem sending 60 additional National Guard troops to Texas
Published February 20, 2024
Gov. Kristi Noem: Texas is protecting their state sovereignty
Gov. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., discusses ‘slowing down the invasion’ at the southern border on ‘The Story.’
FIRST ON FOX — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem announced Tuesday that she will deploy additional National Guard troops to the southern border later this spring.
This new deployment, Noem’s fifth since 2021, is intended to support Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s efforts to respond to the ongoing illegal immigrant crisis, including through the use of barbed wire and security personnel. The governor is sending 60 South Dakota National Guard soldiers on a rolling basis over three months.
“The border is a warzone, so we’re sending soldiers,” Noem said in a statement. “These soldiers’ primary mission will be construction of a wall to stem the flow of illegal immigrants, drug cartels, and human trafficking into the United States of America.”
Noem previewed the troop deployment in an address to a joint session of the South Dakota Legislature late last month. In remarks delivered after she visited Eagle Pass, Texas, in January, Noem decried an “invasion” at the border and urged all 50 states to join forces to repel Mexican drug cartels.
“The United States of America is in a time of invasion,” Noem said. “The invasion is coming over our southern border. The 50 states have a common enemy, and that enemy is the Mexican drug cartels. They are waging war against our nation, and these cartels are perpetuating violence in each of our states, even right here in South Dakota.”
Her address came after South Dakota’s legislature became the first in the nation to pass a resolution of support for Texas that declared, “protection of our nation’s borders from invasion is fundamental to the security, prosperity, and sovereignty of the nation.”
Noem has deployed South Dakota National Guard troops four times previously to the border, including last year, and she has visited several times, most recently on Jan. 26. Other Republican governors have deployed troops and visited the border too, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
In 2021, Noem drew criticism for accepting a $1 million donation offered by a wealthy Republican donor to help cover the cost of a two-month deployment of 48 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas.
