Indiana sends National Guard to southern border at Texas’s request

Indiana is sending National Guard members to the southern border to help with a request from Texas, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) announced Friday.

“I am sending 50 #Hoosier Guardsmen to the southern border to support the Texas National Guard on their security mission,” Holcomb posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “These soldiers will begin mobilizing for the mission immediately and will arrive in Texas in mid-March.”

The governor added in a press release that he is sending troops on “the recent direct request from [Texas] Governor Greg Abbott.”

Holcomb joins a list of Republican governors across the country who are joining Abbott (R) in his standoff against the federal government over border authority in Texas.

The Indiana soldiers will be deployed for 10 months. Holcomb said he has deployed about 300 soldiers during his tenure for “various federal missions,” the press release noted.

The Texas National Guard has appeared to ignore a Supreme Court decision and has continued to build razor wire barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, preventing Border Patrol from its job.

“Federal negligence enforcing immigration law and the failure to secure our country’s border jeopardizes national and economic security, affecting every state, including #Indiana,” Holcomb posted.

“We’ve worked too hard in #Indiana attacking the drug epidemic for more #Hoosier lives to be put at risk by a constant supply of killer drugs spilled over an open U.S. border,” his posts said. “To resolve we need to stop the historically high flow of illegal immigrants crossing the border.”

Abbott has justified his decision to ignore the Supreme Court decision and claimed his authority to stop an “invasion” at the border “supersedes” federal law.

The Supreme Court said the Texas National Guard has physically prevented the Border Patrol from doing its job along the Rio Grande. Tensions have risen as Democrats have called for President Biden to nationalize the Texas troops and force them to follow the high court’s decision.

A group of 24 House Republicans urged Biden not to federalize the Texas National Guard on Thursday amid the standoff.