Governor Rick Perry of Texas is preparing to send 1,000 National Guard troops to the border with Mexico. Tens of thousands of Central American immigrants are fleeing violence and attempting to cross Texas’s 1200-mile border with Mexico. And not enough of them are being swayed by new American billboards and TV commercials warning them to stop. This year has seen a massive upsurge in migrants pressing the US border security.
Governor Perry has said he wants a deployment in order to have “arrest powers to support Border Patrol operations.” Despite Perry’s announcement, the White House says it has “not yet received the formal communication required for Perry to deploy guard troops.” As governor, Perry can deploy the troops but he must pay for them with Texas money. None of Mr. Perry’s moves should surprise Obama–the Texas governor and the president met last week on the immigration/border issue. Obama is also aware that it will cost serious money to fix the problem, funds that go far beyond what Texas will lay out to boost its border patrol via the National Guard. The president recently asked Congress for $3.7 billion to address the immigration crisis.
