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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowUnder pressure from fellow Republicans, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb on Friday announced he would deploy 50 Indiana National Guard soldiers to Texas’ border with Mexico, “effective immediately.”
He previously joined a dozen other governors at the border for a news conference, during which Texas Gov. Greg Abbott promised to expand his border strategy.
“Federal negligence enforcing immigration law and the failure to secure our country’s border jeopardizes national and economic security, affecting every state, including Indiana,” Holcomb said in a news release.
“We’ve worked too hard in Indiana attacking the drug epidemic for more Hoosier lives to be put at risk by a constant supply of killer drugs spilled over an open U.S. border,” he added. “The only way to resolve this is to stop the historically high flow of illegal immigrants crossing the border.”
Abbott and a growing number of Republican governors say President Joe Biden’s administration isn’t doing enough to stem the flow of unauthorized migrants. Texas and the federal government are clashing over a recent U.S. Supreme Court order on razor wire, access to a park along the border and more.
Border patrol agents recorded more than 300,000 apprehensions or immediate expulsions of migrants in December alone, almost 10 times the monthly average from 2013 to 2019, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
States including Arkansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Virginia previously or currently had their own guard soldiers deployed in Texas, according to a recent Newsweek article.
Holcomb noted he was sending 50 soldiers after a “recent direct request” from Abbott.
The soldiers are mobilizing now, he said, and will have a week of training at Camp Atterbury on the “operations of the mission.” They’re expected to arrive in Texas in mid-March and will deploy for 10 months.
Holcomb added that he’s had about 300 soldiers collectively deployed to Texas multiple times during his time in office for “various federal missions.”
The move came after pressure from other Republicans, including a “demand” from gubernatorial candidate Curtis Hill, a former state attorney general. Holcomb is term-limited and is not in the race.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, not-for-profit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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Shameful pandering to the far right.
“No borders, No wall, No USA at all!”
A huge waste of our taxpayers’ money.
Far better for it to go to a cell phone, some fresh clothes, three hots and a cot for the invaders from south. I mean, its not like we don’t have drug addiction crises, homeless vets everywhere, and virtually all economic growth comes from inflation or people taking out second jobs so they can afford their grocery bills?
Yes, it is a huge waste because the feds are derelict in their duty. At least those buses are sending the invaders over to make Chicago and New York and Philadelphia and Washington even bigger open sewers than they already are.
Holcomb is an idiot.
Pandering to Abbott and the right demonstrates why we need to break the Republican chokehold on our state!
Support Jennifer McCormick for Governor!
If Holcomb and all of the rest of the GOP were serious about doing something about the chaos on the border, he would have been pressuring the Federal GOP Senators and Congressmen into passing the new border legislation that contained almost everything the GOP asked for. Action speak louder than words and and it’s clear to me the GOP loyalty is to Trump, Russia, Politics, and America in that order.
I feel sorry for the indiana men and women ripped out of their normal lives for what is basically a political performance piece.
Oh the one that gave Ukraine 60 billion and the US border 20 billion out of the 118 billion. Ever wonder why we are 34 trillion in debt and inflation out of control?
Steve: learn up please, regarding budget deficits and the economy. The border deal was no more or less a negative budget-wise, than Pentagon spending. And: the deal that was reached was exactly what Republicans said they wanted for year.s
oh, and inflation is on the decline, stock markets are at all time highs, as is employment. And these deficits are largely due to two factors: post-pandemic spending to keep the economy from completely tanking, and Republican tax cuts under Trump. We’re working (literally) our way out of the problem.
In the mean time, Trump and the Republicans have made the name “USA” almost without value with our allies across the world, and encouragement for our enemies in Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. It’s pretty clear to friends and foes that the US will not fight for a pro-capitalist, pro-democracy world any longer.
Steve, if you don’t think China isn’t watching the US political gridlock on Ukraine funding and thinking he can invade Taiwan with no response by us, and if you don’t thinks these would have zero effect on the world we live in, you’ve been watching FOX and Newsmax way too much.
Congressional Republicans reject the most stringent Boarder Security bill in decades at the request of their Cult leader King Donald. The bill was endorsed by the conservative National Border Patrol Council/Agents which endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2020 and said, the new bipartisan bill “will drop illegal border crossings nationwide.”
Our gov, who until very recently, arguably could not be considered one of the right-wing nut jobs, a few days later joins the nut brigade. What in the world could be his future employment end game?
Very well stated, Nancy. 100%.
61 billion more unaccountable dollar to Ukraine, while We the People got a 1/3 of that amount for US border security. Stringent or irresponsible the two are not synonymous!
I think the Ukranians are accounting for the money with their blood, their lives, and their cities…
but they also do audits, and recently arrested and are working on recovering the money from a company that embezzled funds for weapons. You want to be upset about Ukraine? Look at US military procurement cost overruns. If you do, you’ll be way ahead of Congress…
LOL, it was loaded with pork for Ukraine and Israel.
It basically devoted a small portion of money to do things that a non-negligent Homeland Security would be doing anyway.
The entire goal was to codify something that is mostly ineffective and to hamstring the 46th president, in the event that senile Biden needs to get the 25th (since his own hyper-partisan DOJ admits he’s cognitively impaired), he croaks before November, and the Dems cant connive with their corporate buddies to rig enough votes to convincingly win. In other words, if there’s a Grover Cleveland event this November, they want to hog-tie the new administration with a horrible border bill so it will make him look bad when he inevitably needs to repeal it.
Correction: 47th president
Sad, thought Govenor Holcomb was above the far-right riff raff.
I have to wonder if this is even legal, notwithstanding it is unquestionably a political ploy.
In checking the Constitution:
No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.
Article I Section 10 Clause 3: Acts Requiring Consent of Congress
The SCOTUS ruling regarding the barbed wire was fundamentally correct; Texas is outstepping its bounds by assuming a federal role.
The problem is, the feds are derelict in their role.
Abbott, being smarter than Biden (given that the formerly intelligent Biden basically has a banana milkshake brain at this point), declared a state of emergency due to invasion, forcing some sort of decisive action from the deliberately dithering Biden admin.
Wasting State monies for political purposes is just wrong. And is this even an legal act?
What a joke, bring our Guards back to Indiana where they belong and stop wasting taxpayer money on political grandstanding!
I thought Holcomb was sane, but now what an embarrassment he has become!
Off to help the Texas Military Department drown more women and children….
Your comment is thoughtless and reckless. Why do people say such ignorance is beyond me. Texas didn’t tell parents to put their children at risk on the border. Liberals will say anything for attention I see.
They are usually fully capable of drowning themselves all on their own, but Tim, even you aren’t thick enough to believe the “horses and whips” propaganda from last year, are you? Are you?!
As is the case with most of the invading Third Worlders financed by Soros and Schwab to undermine civic nationalism and populism, it’s generally adult men of prime working age.
The much-rarer children and women get stashed away as sweatshops workers or sex slaves. Which, of course, most on this site are perfectly okay with.
It looks like the far left loonies have taken over this comment section
At this point, they’re the predictable normies who are part of that rapidly diminishing contingent who still think the Washington Post and Associated Press (IBJ’s most popular syndicates to use) are still viable news sources. Not entirely sure about AP, but WaPo is slicing and dicing more of the staff even with all of Jeff Bezos’s money rescuing it from oblivion several years ago.
No, they are the sane ones posting.
Usually, the IBJ comment section is filled with ludicrous unhinged posts from bored far-right wingnuts who in times past would have filled their days attending John Birch Society meetings and spent their evenings sitting on their mother’s couch staring across a darkened room. But, with the widespread availability of the internet, we all get to witness their kookiness.