Jeff Landry wants to send Louisiana National Guard to U.S.-Mexico border

Gov. Jeff Landry wants to send the Louisiana National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border to aid Texas in its standoff with the Biden administration, he said Sunday. 

Landry spoke Sunday from the border city of Eagle Pass, Texas, where he and 13 other Republican governors traveled to be briefed on the standoff and to show support for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

Under Abbott, Texas’ National Guard and state police have prevented U.S. Border Patrol agents from accessing a 47-acre area in Eagle Pass known as Shelby Park, and from using the park to process migrants. The park abuts the Rio Grande River. 

“When in trouble, our neighbors in Texas have always opened their arms to us. Now it’s time we return the favor,” Landry said. “I look forward to working with our legislative leadership to find a way to send our National Guard troops to the southern border to support Texas. The rule of law must be enforced.”

Immigration law enforcement is the sole purview of the federal government, the Supreme Court has ruled. 

Texas’ move last month to block the federal government from the park comes nearly three years after the state first began sending its own troops to patrol the border, and two years after the state first began to put up concertina wire along the river’s banks. 

Since 2021, at least a dozen other states have deployed guard members to Texas. 

Abbott said Sunday that the state plans to expand its effort beyond Shelby Park, and called the arrival of migrants an “invasion” that allows Texas to enforce immigration laws. 

Stay tuned for more on this story.