(The Center Square) – With the recent deployment of 300 Illinois National Guard troops to the Middle East, some are asking why they weren’t sent south to help secure the U.S. border.
Republicans across the country are rallying behind Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s legal standoff with the federal government and an ongoing dispute with President Joe Biden over the ongoing rush of illegal immigrants across the border.
A letter signed by 25 Republican governors throws support behind Abbott after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of federal agents’ power to remove wire that had been placed in Eagle Pass, Texas, along the border.
“President Biden and his Administration have left Americans and our country completely vulnerable to unprecedented illegal immigration pouring across the Southern border,” the letter reads.
More than 35,000 migrants have come to Illinois since August 2022, many of them arriving on buses from Texas.
State officials have been calling on President Joe Biden for extra funding for the issue. State Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, proposed the idea of refusing to host the Democratic National Convention until more federal dollars are sent to Chicago to deal with the issue.
“The southern border issue probably has a more near-term effect on the safety of U.S. citizens, whereas the Middle East has the ability of truly changing our standing as a world power if we fail to respond to this escalating structure of attacks on U.S. forces,” Illinois state Sen. Craig Wilcox told The Center Square.
Wilcox, R-McHenry, was referring to the drone attack in Jordan that recently killed three U.S. soldiers.
On his Truth Social platform, former President Donald Trump encouraged states to deploy their National Guards to Texas.
