Nebraska could spend as much as $2.6 million this summer helping Texas secure its southern border with Mexico.
That’s the anticipated cost of deploying 61 Nebraska Army National Guard soldiers to the border for August plus sending 10 members of the Nebraska State Patrol for two weeks in late May, according to State Budget Director Lee Will.
Gov. Jim Pillen defended the expense Monday, after visiting the border with Nebraska National Guard Adj. Gen. Craig Strong. The two met with troops and got a security briefing from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
“Based on what I saw today, the cost of the two recent deployments of National Guard troops and State Patrol troopers is worth the prevention of having illegal drugs and criminals pour through the southern border at ever-increasing numbers each day,†Pillen said.
The National Guard soldiers left Nebraska on Aug. 2 and are slated to return in early September. They were to assist the Texas National Guard by observing and reporting border crossings. The cost of their deployment could be up to $2 million, Will said.
State officials earlier said that the cost would be picked up by the federal government. But Will said the money will come out of the military department’s state budget. Those dollars, in turn, will be replaced with federal pandemic relief dollars.
He said the federal American Relief Program Act money can be used to pay for state government services but not for the border mission, which was undertaken in response to a request from Texas emergency management officials issued through the national Emergency Management Assistance Compact.
The Nebraska State Patrol covered the $600,000 cost of sending troopers to Texas earlier this summer out of its own budget. The troopers, who volunteered, spent two weeks assisting with drone surveillance.
Typically, the cost of assistance provided through the multi-state EMAC is paid by the requesting state. But Texas has made previous requests to states for help at the border without providing reimbursement. Former Gov. Pete Ricketts sent 32 troopers to Texas in summer 2021 at Nebraska expense.
On Monday, Pillen joined Abbott and three other Midwestern governors for a press conference in Eagle Pass, Texas. The three included Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, all Republicans.
They are among 14 governors who have deployed military and law enforcement personnel to Texas in support of Operation Lone Star, an initiative launched by Abbott in 2021 to ramp up enforcement at the border.
Pillen expressed “disbelief†about what he called “misrepresentation†concerning the border. He said there is misrepresentation about who is coming across the border.
“I mean we are fighting cartels that are trying to kill our kids,†he said. “We are going to protect our kids. We have to do the work, and Biden administration and federal government: Do your dadgum job.â€
Pillen also said there was misrepresentation about the buoys installed by Texas as a floating barrier in the Rio Grande River. The circular buoys are about 4 feet in diameter and are separated by circular blades with saw teeth on the outer edge.
“The buoys are a deterrent,†he said. “They don’t cause a Band-Aid and, if they do, I say, what the heck, stay on your side of the river.â€
But Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a Latino civil rights group, expressed “deep concern†over the governors’ visit to Texas. He said they should “redirect their attention to their own states and refrain from becoming pawns in a failed policy of hatred and fear.â€
Garcia criticized Operation Lone Star as a “cruel and barbaric waste of taxpayer dollars.†In particular, he said the buoys, along with concertina wire, have led to injury and death along the border.
A federal judge was to hear arguments Tuesday in a case filed by the U.S. Justice Department seeking to have the buoys removed. The lawsuit claimed that the barrier constituted an unauthorized and illegal structure obstructing U.S. waters in violation of river protection laws, while Texas has argued that the federal government has failed to defend the border and the state has a constitutional right to defend itself.
Like Pillen, the other governors speaking Monday criticized President Joe Biden and the federal government. Iowa’s Reynolds said the current president had created a crisis by repealing policies put in place by former President Donald Trump.
The result has “made every state a border state,†she said, with Mexican cartels and human traffickers making their way to the Midwest and bringing fentanyl and methamphetamine.