More units from the Louisiana National Guard could be deployed to the Texas border with Mexico if the need arises for additional immigration enforcement, according to Gov. Jeff Landry.
The governor was asked Monday at a news conference in Chalmette whether the state would go beyond the 150 Guard members it has already committed to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a fellow Republican. Louisiana is one of more than 20 states that have provided National Guard personnel to Texas or pledged public dollars to send them there.
Earlier this year, Landry convinced state lawmakers to spend $3 million to send Louisiana units to the border in increments of 50 soldiers for 30-day periods. The first deployment started in March, and the last 50 will end their mission soon.
“I spoke to Gov. Abbott several weeks ago. We’d like to talk to them again some more about maybe sending some more troops down there. He could use them,” Landry said. “I know that the season under which the biggest migratory surge that they see actually happens around this time … When you place those guardsmen on the border, we have absolutely seen a reduction in the number of illegal entries into the state of Texas.”
A select number of Republican Louisiana lawmakers accompanied the governor and First Lady Sharon Landry on a trip to the border last month. The junkets have become routine for GOP governors who have been critical of the Biden administration’s approach to immigration.
The most recent numbers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) show 10,271 “encounters” with immigrants in the Del Rio sector in April. That’s half the number from the same month last year and and fourth of the encounters from April 2022. CPB encounters include migrant apprehensions, expulsions and individuals who are denied entry to the United States.
The Del Rio includes Eagle Pass, Texas, where Abbott has defied federal authorities and assigned the Texas National Guard to thwart migrant border crossings. State authorities have placed razor-wire covered buoys in the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass to prevent anyone from entering from Mexico via the river.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order Tuesday that allows him to close down the U.S. border with Mexico if the number of migrants seeking asylum exceeds 2,500 per day — a threshold that could be triggered immediately.
The president’s action comes after Democrats and Republicans in Congress failed to find common ground on immigration policy. Throughout the months of debate, probable GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump told his party members to avoid compromise in order to saddle Biden with baggage that could harm him in the November election.
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