AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Rick Perry said Monday he is deploying up to 1,000 National Guard troops over the next month to the Texas-Mexico border to combat criminals that Republican state leaders say are exploiting a surge of children and families entering the U.S. illegally.
Perry, a vocal critic of the White House’s response to the border crisis, said the state has a responsibility to act after “lip service” from the federal government. He rejected suggestions that Texas was militarizing local communities by putting troops on the ground.
The deployment will cost Texas an estimated $12 million a month. Texas Adjutant General John Nichols said his troops simply would be “referring and deterring” immigrants and not detaining people — although Nichols said the National Guard could if asked. “We think they’ll come to us and say, ‘Please take us to a Border Patrol station,’ ” Nichols said.
As governor, Perry is commander in chief of Texas military forces unless those forces already have been mobilized by the White House. But if Perry deploys National Guard troops, it is up to Texas to pay for them, while an order from Obama would mean Washington picks up the tab.
