by Allan Wall, Border Hawk, ©2024
(Mar. 1, 2024) — For years I’ve thought that the state of Texas could do more to secure its border with Mexico.
Nearly a decade ago, when Obama was president and Rick Perry was governor of Texas, I wrote an article entitled, “Texas’ Rick Perry Could Seal The Border Himself—If He Had The Will.”
It’s now 2024 and Texas Governor Greg Abbott has his border program, which is centered in the town of Eagle Pass, across the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras, Mexico.
Abbott has the Texas National Guard on the border. As a Texas National Guard veteran myself, I wish them well.
Some say Abbott isn’t doing enough, and certainly, we all wish more could be done.
But consider that he is doing more than any other border governor.
Gov. Abbott hasn’t backed down and has made a good case to the federal government that he is doing this because the feds aren’t doing their job. That’s absolutely right.
Abbott is constructing a permanent National Guard military base at Eagle Pass to house troops while they are on border duty. That’s a great idea, and it could be expanded.
It’s also encouraging that other states are cooperating by sending National Guard troops.
This is very compatible with how the National Guard is organized.
Unless a Guard unit is stationed somewhere for a special deployment, Guardsmen drill one weekend a month and for a two-week “Annual Training” period, usually in the summer.
When I was in the Texas Army National Guard, we’d usually do our two-week Annual Training at Fort Hood, the biggest military base in the United States. (Fort Hood was recently renamed, but it’s still Fort Hood to me.)
National Guard troops can and should be sent to the border to do their Annual Training and longer deployments there.
Guard units from various states rotating in and out of border duty would take pressure off Texas, as other states do their part, as well. After all, it’s the border of the United States, not just Texas.
Read the rest here.