National Guard arrives at Texas-Mexico border

Immigrant rights advocates say the National Guard is not trained to deal with immigrants or minors, and the border should not be militarized.
The first units of the National Guard troops that Texas Governor Rick Perry is deploying to the state’s border with Mexico to deal with the surge of incoming migrants have arrived on the border, authorities confirmed Tuesday.

“The Texas National Guard currently has troops all along the border between Texas and Mexico in support of Operation Strong Safety,” confirmed Lt. Col. Joanne MacGregor, public affairs officer at Texas Military Forces.

Since October of last year, some 63,000 unaccompanied minors coming from Central America have tried to enter the United States, causing a humanitarian crisis at the border since Border Patrol are ill equipped to deal with such a large number of people.

The majority of the migrants try to cross into the country via Texas along the Rio Grande Valley.

Perry announced last month that he would deploy 1,000 National Guard troops to address the issue, claiming that the federal government is not doing enough.

Many immigrant rights advocates are concerned that the border region is being militarized, saying the National Guard is untrained at properly dealing with minors or immigrants.

“There is no evidence that these folks crossing are committing violent acts,” said Terri Burke, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.

“What this region doesn’t need is any more boots on the ground. We need judges. We need immigration officials to process all these folks,” Burke said.

But Republicans maintain that the National Guard are in place for the safety of United States citizens.

“We got a big border,” said Maj. Gen. John Nichols, “we’re going to be pursuing them every time they cross.”

The first units of the troops for Operation Strong Safety started arriving Monday, and more are expected to arrive throughout the week.

The exact number of troops currently deployed has not been specified but 700 were still waiting at Camp Swift for deployment orders, said Nichols.

The National Guard was given 30 days to get troops ready and deployed to the border after Perry called them in on July 21. The mission is expected to last 90 days and has an initial budget of US$38 million, funded entirely by taxpayers.

Governor Perry is considered to be one of the frontrunners for the upcoming Republican nominations for the federal elections in 2016. His tactics at the border have been seen as a political stunt to gain popularity amongst staunch republican voters.