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Noem deploying troops to Mexican border again [1]

['Searchlight Staff', 'More From Author', '- February']

Date: 2024-02

Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem announced Tuesday that she will once again deploy National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, and she said the troops will help with “construction of a wall.”

Noem said 60 South Dakota National Guard soldiers will deploy “on a rolling basis over a three-month period” this spring. She said it will be the fifth deployment of South Dakota Guard troops to assist in border security efforts during her administration.

“The border is a warzone, so we’re sending soldiers,” Noem said in a news release. “These soldiers’ primary mission will be construction of a wall to stem the flow of illegal immigrants, drug cartels, and human trafficking into the United States of America.”

She said the deployment answers a call from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to help that state respond to large numbers of people flowing across the southern border.

Last month, Noem requested and was granted a joint session of the Legislature to give a speech about the situation at the border. That followed a visit by her to the border in January.

Noem has spent at least $1.3 million of state funds on prior troop deployments to the Texas-Mexico border through agreements that relieve Texas of any obligation to repay the money. Noem has used South Dakota’s Emergency and Disaster Fund to cover those costs. Additional funding for past deployments came from a private donor in Tennessee, and from the federal government.

Texas Gov. Abbott announced last week that he plans to build an 80-acre base camp in Eagle Pass for Texas National Guard soldiers conducting Operation Lone Star, the state’s effort to deter people from immigrating into Texas illegally. Texas has spent $10 billion on the operation.

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[1] Url: https://southdakotasearchlight.com/briefs/noem-deploying-troops-to-mexican-border-again/

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