(The Center Square) – North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum said Thursday he would send 100 National Guard troops to Texas to help with an influx of illegal immigrants.
The deployment will happen this fall, according to a news release from the governor’s office.
“The threat to national security grows every day that the Biden administration abdicates the responsibility of the federal government to secure our borders – failing to enforce existing immigration laws and failing to dedicate the resources needed to stop the tide of illegal immigration and drug trafficking that endangers lives in communities across our country,” Burgum said. “If the White House won’t address this crisis, governors will, and we commend Gov. Abbott for taking the lead in the absence of federal action.”
North Dakota National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 112th Aviation Regiment has about 125 members at the southern border now, according to the news release.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent a letter to all 50 governors last month asking for help at the border.
“The flood of illegal border activity invited by the Biden Administration flows directly across the southern border into Texas communities, but this crisis does not stop in our state,” Abbott said in his letter. “Emboldened Mexican drug cartels and other transnational criminal enterprises profit off this chaos, smuggling people and dangerous drugs like fentanyl into communities nationwide.”
A lawsuit filed by 18 district attorneys showed between 6,000 to 9,000 illegal immigrants lived in North Dakota. The cost associated with illegal immigrants is between $27 million and $36 million annually, according to the lawsuit.
In addition to North Dakota, 23 others states have committed to helping secure the southern border, including Arkansas, Florida, South Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia.
This article First appeared in the center square