Texas to send National Guard to border to stem immigrant wave

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Defence & Security News - US National Guard
 
 
Tuesday, July 22, 2014 01:25 PM
 
Texas to send National Guard to border to stem immigrant wave
The U.S. state of Texas plans to send 1,000 National Guard troops to the border with Mexico in order to stem the influx of illegal immigrants and bolster border security, Governor of Texas Rick Perry announced on Monday.
     
The U.S. state of Texas plans to send 1,000 National Guard troops to the border with Mexico in order to stem the influx of illegal immigrants and bolster border security, Governor of Texas Rick Perry announced on Monday.
US National Guard soldiers during border patrol
     

The buildup of the guardsmen, which is expected to take 30 days, will be sent to the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas to support the state's Department of Public Safety in hunting down drug cartels, smuggling rings and other criminal elements, Perry told reporters.

As criminals have been exploiting the recent influx of illegal immigrants for human and drug trafficking, "the price of inaction is too high for Texas to pay," he said.

The deployment will cost the state 12 million U.S. dollars per month. Though both Perry and U.S. President Barack Obama have the authority to deploy National Guard troops, whoever authorizes it has to pay for it.