JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri’s governor said he is spending the week figuring out which and how many resources to send to the southern border in Texas.
The state currently has roughly 250 Missouri National Guard members deployed to the southern border, but the governor wants more boots on the ground. Over the weekend, Gov. Mike Parson met with governors from more than a dozen states in Texas to get a better idea of Operation Lone Star and to offer more resources.
“When it comes to securing the border to protect the American people, we all become border states,” Parson said in an interview Monday. “Gov. Greg Abbott is a good guy, but he is literally the lone ranger in this particular time.”
Missouri plans to send more National Guard troops to Texas in the coming weeks. Parson spent Sunday in Eagle Pass, Texas, on his first trip to the southern border, meeting with Gov. Greg Abbott and a dozen other governors.
“You realize there are open spots all through these fences now where people can come across the border and there’s nobody there,” Parson said. “I’m telling you, there’s a 20-foot gap in the wall that used to be a security gate; it’s gone. It’s a sad situation; it’s a tough situation, but as long as politicians keep sitting around and talking about it and don’t do anything, the problem is not going to go away.”
Eagle Pass is a Texas city that has become a flashpoint in the immigration debate. The discourse started after the state and U.S. Border Patrol agents began denying entry into the county. Abbott touted the state’s efforts Sunday to reinforce border security, like installing additional razor wire.
Parson said the shocking point of his trip came when he saw people crossing the Rio Grande River to get to America.
“Not more than 200 yards from where you see everybody crossing the river is a bridge,” Parson said. “You can literally get on the bridge on the Mexico side, walk across the river and come to the authorities on the American side. That’s how easy it is. Now, what’s going to happen is you’re going to get turned away and they will send you back. What we’ve actually done is make these people take risks—life risks—when they cross a river.”
The governor said he plans to spend the week coming up with an action plan, which could include sending Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers and drones to Texas.
“What we talked about is the highway patrol, to be able to utilize some of them and that’s on the apprehension side, the law enforcement side of it,” Parson said. “You’ve got the National Guard and we’ve got the attorney general. We’ve talked to him, where he’s more than willing to send down people to help with the criminal prosecution side of it.”
The other side of the aisle calls the meeting at the southern border “political theater,” saying Republicans want to run on immigration in the next election.
“It’s a show,” Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, D-Independence, said. “I mean, the Biden Administration put forward a plan that was broken by Republicans and Democrats together to try and solve the crisis at the border. There’s a crisis at the border and there is something that needs to be done about it.”
Parson, who is termed out, said his concern is how many people are coming across the border.
“It’s a shame the President of the United States is not enforcing the laws in the Constitution,” Parson said. “I know that everybody tries to make this a political statement; this is a matter of getting the job done.”
The governor said he hopes more Missouri resources will be on the ground in Texas within the next month. His office is also working on the cost of these resources and how long the state will be able to sustain them.
The other governors who attended the briefing on Texas’ border security initiative included:
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp
Idaho Gov. Brad Little
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox
