Cox sends Utah National Guard, UHP troopers to US southern border
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) announced he will be sending law enforcement troopers and members of the state’s National Guard to the Texas southern border later this month.
According to Cox’s office, Texas sent an Emergency Management Assistance Compact request to Utah’s Department of Public Safety and National Guard.
Five soldiers from the Utah National Guard engineer battalion will go to the southern border beginning Monday, Feb. 26 to maintain military equipment on a 14-day deployment. The same day, a Utah Highway Patrol sergeant and four additional troopers with UHP’s Criminal Interdiction Team will support their Texas counterparts with drug investigations for a 30-day deployment.
The request for aid and the deployment of resources comes just days after Cox visited the border with several other governors. The southern border has been a point of contention between Republican leaders and the Biden Administration in recent months.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has argued with the president over immigration enforcement. Over the last month, Abbott has accused the Biden Administration of not being tough enough on border crossings and has expanded state operations along the border, restricting U.S. Border Patrol’s access to certain areas.
A bipartisan border security bill was crafted in collaboration with members on both sides of the aisle and would have provided $20 billion to border security while making several reforms to border policy. Also tied into the bill was $60 billion in funding to Ukraine in its war against Russia and $14.1 billion in funding for Israel in its fight against Hamas. House conservatives pushed back on the bill and declared it “dead on arrival.”
Gov. Cox has voiced his support for the Texas governor in the past, describing the southern border as a “disaster.”
“Our borders threaten our national security and if the president and Congress won’t solve the influx of people and drugs, states have to step up,” said Gov. Cox in a press release on Friday. “Right now, Texas needs our help and we’re grateful to our National Guard members, state Troopers and their families for their willingness to serve and keep us safe.”
Cox said the deployment of both UHP troopers and National Guard soldiers will cost an estimated $150,000, which will come from the Governor’s Office Emergency Fund. Earlier this week, Utah Rep. John Curtis (R) introduced a bill in Congress following that aims to see states be reimbursed for funds used to send law enforcement to the border.
“I regret that the President and Secretary Mayorkas have been negligent in their duty to secure the border and created a situation where states feel it is necessary to act individually,” said Curtis. “Congress has the power of the purse and we must support these states spending dollars to end this humanitarian crisis. It is enabling fentanyl trafficking that hurts Utahns.”
The Utah Democratic Party criticized Cox’s move to send members of the National Guard and Utah High Patrol to Texas, saying the governor is more interested in playing political games and building his own national brand rather than focusing on Utah.
“No matter how hard he tries to falsely justify his grandstanding through fear-mongering, the fact is that we have far more pressing issues facing our state that we should be devoting time, energy, and money to than posturing in an effort to please Donald Trump,” The UDP said in a statement. “Once again, if Cox and his Republican friends are so concerned about the border, they should be supporting the bipartisan proposal negotiated by President Biden and Senate Republicans.”
In recent years, Utah has responded to several EMAC deployments including sending Troopers and Guard members to assist with the emergency response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and providing security at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in 2016. Since 2018, the Utah National Guard has sent 226 Guard members to the border on various missions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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