Gov. Kim Reynolds deploys Iowa National Guard to border, will use ARP money to pay for it

Gov. Kim Reynolds deployed more than 100 Iowa National Guard soldiers to Texas on Wednesday to assist at the U.S.-Mexico border for the next month.

And she says she'll use the Biden Administration's COVID-19 relief funds to pay for it.

What will the Iowa National Guard do in Texas?

The 109 soldiers are tasked with "deterring illegal border crossings and preventing the trafficking of illegal substances by cartels through Texas," Reynolds announced in a news release Wednesday afternoon. They will remain in Texas until Sept. 1.

Reynolds, a Republican, announced in May she would send the troops to the border in response to a request for assistance from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. She was one of at least half a dozen Republican governors around the country to send personnel to the border to support "Operation Lone Star."

More: Gov. Kim Reynolds to deploy Iowa National Guard troops to US-Mexico border this summer

The Iowa Department of Public Safety will send a group of Iowa State Patrol officers to Texas on Aug. 31 to support the Texas State Patrol, according to the news release. That deployment will end Oct. 2.

The Iowa state troopers will "support Texas State Troopers with criminal interdiction, crime prevention, traffic enforcement and law enforcement assistance," the news release states. Iowa is also sending an investigative team to assist with Texas' investigations of narcotics, weapons and human trafficking.

How will Gov. Kim Reynolds pay for deploying Iowa National Guard troops?

To fund the deployment, Reynolds said Wednesday she will use money from the American Rescue Plan Act — the COVID-19 relief package that Biden signed into law in 2021 and that Republicans uniformly opposed.

"All costs will be covered by federal funding allocated to Iowa from the American Rescue Plan," the news release says. "States are given flexibility in how this funding can be used provided it supports the provision of government services."

The money is from the law's State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, the governor's office said Thursday. Among other uses, the money can be used to support the provision of government services to make up for lost revenue due to COVID-19.

Kollin Crompton, a spokesperson for Reynolds, said Reynolds has used the money for projects "aimed at strengthening the state's economy, workforce, infrastructure and public health."

"This investment is no different. The health of our people and economy is directly threatened by the illegal drugs flowing through the southern border and into our state," he said in a statement, pointing to an increase in fentanyl and methamphetamine seizures in Iowa since the start of the pandemic.

Hasn't Iowa sent National Guard troops to the border before?

It's not the first time Reynolds has sent Iowa personnel to the U.S.-Mexico border.

In 2021, Reynolds deployed about 28 Iowa State Patrol troopers to the border for 14 days in the Del Rio area in southwest Texas, where they accompanied Texas law enforcement on patrols, assisted with humanitarian efforts, helped disrupt criminal networks and investigated human smuggling, officials said at the time.

That mission cost roughly $300,000, and was paid for by the state of Iowa.

Why does Kim Reynolds object to Biden's handling of immigration?

Reynolds has been a constant critic of President Joe Biden's handling of immigration and said Wednesday that he has "failed the American people."

“On his first day in office, President Biden reversed commonsense policies that protected the U.S. Southern border and American citizens," Reynolds said in a statement. "Since that time, our country has experienced a historic rise in illegal immigrants and illicit drugs entering our country. Two years later, every state is a border state, and Iowa’s unique location at the intersection of two major interstates makes it a target for human traffickers and drug cartels."

Biden allowed the Trump administration's pandemic-era Title 42 program to expire in May. The policy had allowed Border Patrol agents to expel migrants seeking entry into the U.S. in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

After Biden lifted Title 42, border arrests between ports of entry fell in June to 99,545, a 42% decrease from May, according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol data.

Have border arrests risen or fallen?

But preliminary data show arrests along the border rose in July to more than 130,000.

In late July, a federal judge in California struck down a Biden administration policy that sought to limit the number of migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border by requiring them to first seek protection in Mexico.

The Justice Department sued Abbott last week after he refused to remove a floating barrier in the Rio Grande River that the White House called "dangerous" and "unlawful."

The lawsuit says the barrier of buoys and razor wire raises humanitarian, navigation and public safety issues, resulting in adults and children being severely cut during river crossings.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Kim Reynolds sends 100 Iowa National Guard soldiers to US-Mexico border