Texas to deploy National Guard to patrol border

Texas Governor Rick Perry has formally announced his plans to send 1,000 members of the Texas National Guard to patrol the border with Mexico in an effort to address the humanitarian crisis at the border.

This is the strongest move yet by the Texas governor, who has often criticized the federal government's response to the more than 50,000 migrants who have been detained since last October. That figure is more than double the amount that were caught crossing the border in the same period of time last year. While the crisis has been ongoing, this is the first real measure taken by the governor.

The Associated Press reports that deploying the troops will cost $12 million a month. The 1,000 National Guard troops will bolster a force of around 3,000 Border Patrol agents typically responsible for patrolling the border.

As a governor, it is Perry's right to call up the National Guard if the federal government has not already done so. The only difference is that when a governor does it unilaterally, the cost of the operation falls on the state, rather than Washington D.C.

This deployment is one in a string of actions that has seen the National Guard patrol the border with Mexico in recent years. In 2006, George W. Bush deployed 6,000 National Guard troops to the border. In 2010, Obama expanded that deployment, but with smaller numbers and a focus on anti-drug operations.

The AP notes that Perry has also set aside another $1.3 million to help bolster the Texas Department of Public Safety so that it can expand some of its operations to include policing the border.

Most of the migrants who have come to the border are young children or single mothers who are hoping to escape the rampant gang violence and lucrative drug trade that fuels it in central American nations like Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras.