Missouri House sends bill funding National Guard border deployment to the Senate
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The Missouri House overwhelmingly supported Gov. Mike Parson’s plan to send soldiers and state troopers to the Mexican border Thursday by voting 122-12 for the money needed to finance it.
Parson is sending 200 Missouri National Guard soldiers and 11 Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers to work with Texas law enforcement at the request of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. There are also about 250 National Guard soldiers from Missouri in Texas operating under federal orders and paid from the federal treasury.
The 11 patrol troopers will be in Texas for 32 days and the 200 guard soldiers will rotate tours of 50 during the 90-day mission, which could be extended.
The bill provides $2.2 million for the deployment, $2 million to cover costs for the National Guard and $206,757 for patrol operations.
Republicans backing the bill said the state must step up because too many people are illegally entering the country.
“When the federal government and its weakness fails to act in the best interest of Missourians, it is the obligation of the state of Missouri to act,” said Rep. Chad Perkins, a Republican from Bowling Green.
During a hearing on the appropriation last week, Col. Eric Olson, superintendent of the patrol, said the agency is 132 troopers short of full strength. Thursday, state Rep. Ingrid Burnett, a Kansas City Democrat, said the troopers going to Texas are needed more at home.
“It’s a reckless move to deplete our service people even more,” Burnett said. “It just doesn’t make good sense to me to be taking this move at this time with our troops.”
Democrats who supported the spending said the extra help at the border will support the men and women from the National Guard already deployed.
“For years we have had Missouri National Guard down on the border at the request of the Biden administration,” said state Rep. Maggie Nurrenbern, a Kansas City Democrat. “These additional troops will just go to support those who have been on that border for quite some time now.”
Nurrenbern also said she’s hopeful Congress will take action. A bipartisan immigration bill negotiated in the U.S. Senate was shelved after intense opposition from former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president.
“I hope that Congress will soon pick up the immigration bill,” Nurrenbern said, “to truly secure our border to make a process available to all who want to immigrate to this country legally.”
This story was first published at www.missouriindependent.com.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri House sends bill funding border deployment to the Senate
