Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas has thrown her hat into the ring of GOP leaders taking the initiative in strengthening security at the southern border. First reported by Fox News on Thursday, Sanders is now deploying Arkansas troops to reinforce the frontier.
Joining a band of states under Republican leadership—Florida, Nebraska, Virginia, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Tennessee—Arkansas is the latest to respond to Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s plea for help in safeguarding the Texas-Mexico border.
Sanders didn’t shy away from expressing her stance on the border situation. In a Twitter statement, she pointed to illegal immigration, cartel activities, and trafficking as border challenges she believes have been exacerbated by the Biden administration’s policies.
Maj. Gen. Jonathan Stubbs, the adjutant general for the Arkansas National Guard, remarked on the invaluable expertise of their forces. He stated, “Our Soldiers and Airmen have been providing these same capabilities to combatant commanders and local law enforcement agencies for years,” in his conversation with Fox News.
This decisive action from the states follows the termination of Title 42, a cornerstone Trump-era border policy instrumental in the expulsion of over 2 million illegal immigrants, on May 11. In anticipation of a surge following the policy’s end, President Biden deployed 1,500 U.S. troops to the southern border.
A Pentagon official previously shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation that this military personnel would “fill critical capability gaps, such as ground-based detection and monitoring, data entry, and warehouse support until CBP can address these needs through contracted support.”
Undeniably, the southern border security issue continues to be a flashpoint in national politics. With GOP governors like Sarah Huckabee Sanders leading the charge, states are stepping up to secure their borders and address the ongoing challenges.
