Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin had barely released news that he would send 100 troops from the state’s National Guard to support Operation Lone Star in Texas when the criticism began that the Governor’s maneuver was just for show, and — worse — that the soldiers were going to support logistics operations for settling migrants, not for keeping the border closed.
This indefatigable MAGA fear that the border crisis constitutes an “invasion” of the U.S. is on full blast in the comments reacting to Youngkin’s move. When Youngkin writes that the Virginia National Guard soldiers will “assist in key aspects of the mission,” deep-state-suspicious MAGA adherents believe that means the soldiers will be escorting migrants into the U.S.
The measured reply that best illustrates this reads: “They aren’t stopping people from entering. They just round them up for processing and transport to the fed facilities and NGOs for dispersal into the US.”
Another take on Youngkin’s move is this: “Disgusting and a complete waste of our tax dollars. And we all know Biden didn’t create a border crisis. You’ve been yelling the same talking points since the 70’s…this isn’t a win.”
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin today signed an executive directive, ordering 100 members of the Virginia National Guard to the southern border to support Operation Lone Star, at Texas Governor Greg Abbott's request. This is the first deployment of this kind from VA to TX. pic.twitter.com/DNYcwi7RrK
— Gary Grumbach (@GaryGrumbach) May 31, 2023
Operation Lone Star was initiated in 2021 by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who requested troops from other states to help with operations — and to demonstrate political solidarity on the optics.
In addition to its mandate to prevent criminal activity at the Texas-Mexican border, “including criminal trespassing, smuggling, and human trafficking,” Lone Star also includes “funding for indigent defense.”
As a result, there is a prominent perception that the additional soldiers are being used to help and settle migrants — a process seen as a plus by humanitarians and a minus by isolationists. Isolationists — to judge by unofficial but anecdotal evidence — are the more active of the two groups on Twitter, a metric which makes Youngkin’s show of solidarity a double-edged political sword.
Responses to the Youngkin announcement shared on the far-right feed below are also littered with detractors.
🚨 #BREAKING: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has deployed National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, saying the border crisis “has turned every state into a border state.” pic.twitter.com/t1iMgaBINI
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 31, 2023
One commenter wrote: “Youngkin is not at ALL what he started as, and is HAPPY to send them down there as a show. Want to know what they do? They PROCESS Illegals faster. That’s it, that’s all. No National Guard from ANY state has gone to the border to do anything else but logistics…”
The border issue is, of course, as politically charged as any in the nation. Conservatives who lean toward static isolationism view an influx of migrants as a threat to the sanctity of the U.S. — even as businesses, especially agricultural business, need the workers migration provides. Liberals, on the other hand, generally see sanctuary in the U.S. for refugees, when done properly, as fulfillment of a basic human right.
