Ohio governor deploys nearly 200 National Guard members to US-Mexico border

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) on Friday became the latest governor to approve the deployment of National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to help address the record number of people seeking asylum who are crossing into the U.S. 

The Ohio governor said in a press release that he had authorized 185 members of the Ohio Army National Guard to join the 3,000 members being sent from other states to help U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at the border. 

The Friday move follows the previous deployment of 115 members of the Ohio National Guard’s 1484th Transportation Company to the border, whom DeWine said “currently remain on active duty.”

I have approved a request from the @DHSgov and the @USNationalGuard to activate additional members of the @OHNationalGuard in support of the Southwest Border mission. 185 members of the Ohio Army National Guard will be deployed to provide non-law enforcement support. pic.twitter.com/TdFpxgIFfm

— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) July 2, 2021

Several Republican governors have joined in on sending National Guard members to the southern border, arguing that the Biden administration is not doing enough to address the influx in migrants, mostly from Central America. 

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) on Tuesday announced that she would be sending an initial deployment of as many as 50 South Dakota National Guard troops to “secure” the border. 

“The border is a national security crisis that requires the kind of sustained response only the National Guard can provide,” Noem said at the time. 

The move came days after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who like Noem is considered a potential 2024 White House contender, said he would be sending 50 police officers to Texas to assist in security at the border. 

DeSantis, while initially announcing a desire to send Florida law enforcement officers to the border earlier last month, argued that he was responding to “the failure of the Biden administration to secure our southern border.”

“America’s border security crisis impacts every state and every American,” he said in a statement at the time. 

The narrative of a “crisis” at the border has been advanced by former President Trump, who on Wednesday joined Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and a group of House conservatives on a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border. 

“All Biden had to do is go to the beach,” Trump said at a rally in front of an unfinished border wall. “If he would have just done nothing, we would have now the strongest border we’ve ever had. It was even getting better and better and better, because it was all kicking in.”

Abbott has vowed to help complete the construction of Trump’s border wall — a key campaign promise which he said would curb illegal immigration — by using a mix of private donations and state funds from unused federal COVID-19 relief money.