Migrant crisis: Noem sends National Guard to southern border's 'warzone'

FIRST ON FOX — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem announced Tuesday that she will deploy additional National Guard troops to the southern border later this spring. 

This new deployment, Noem's fifth since 2021, is intended to support Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's efforts to respond to the ongoing illegal immigrant crisis, including through the use of barbed wire and security personnel. The governor is sending 60 South Dakota National Guard soldiers on a rolling basis over three months. 

"The border is a warzone, so we’re sending soldiers," Noem said in a statement. "These soldiers’ primary mission will be construction of a wall to stem the flow of illegal immigrants, drug cartels, and human trafficking into the United States of America."

Noem previewed the troop deployment in an address to a joint session of the South Dakota Legislature late last month. In remarks delivered after she visited Eagle Pass, Texas, in January, Noem decried an "invasion" at the border and urged all 50 states to join forces to repel Mexican drug cartels. 

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"The United States of America is in a time of invasion," Noem said. "The invasion is coming over our southern border. The 50 states have a common enemy, and that enemy is the Mexican drug cartels. They are waging war against our nation, and these cartels are perpetuating violence in each of our states, even right here in South Dakota."

Her address came after South Dakota's legislature became the first in the nation to pass a resolution of support for Texas that declared, "protection of our nation's borders from invasion is fundamental to the security, prosperity, and sovereignty of the nation." 

Noem has deployed South Dakota National Guard troops four times previously to the border, including last year, and she has visited several times, most recently on Jan. 26. Other Republican governors have deployed troops and visited the border too, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

In 2021, Noem drew criticism for accepting a $1 million donation offered by a wealthy Republican donor to help cover the cost of a two-month deployment of 48 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas.

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Between Dec. 1 and 31, more than 302,000 migrants were documented attempting to cross the U.S. southern border. 

It is the highest total for a single month ever recorded. It is also the first time migrant encounters have exceeded 300,000.

Sources with U.S. Customs and Border Protection told Fox News that over the last week of January, Border Patrol apprehended 32,809 illegal immigrants. 

The overwhelming influx of illegal immigrants across the southern border has put a strain on states like Texas and led to accusations from Republicans that the Biden administration is not enforcing the law. Abbot has cracked down on the border with state personnel, clashing with Biden officials who say he is overstepping federal authority to enforce immigration law. 

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The U.S. Supreme Court last month sided with the Biden administration against Texas in a case involving barbed wire fencing Abbott had installed along the border with Mexico. 

In court papers, the Biden administration argued that the wire impedes Border Patrol agents from reaching migrants as they cross the river and that, in any case, federal immigration laws trumps Texas' efforts to stem the flow of migrants into the country. 

Most of the razor wire is deployed in the Shelby Park area of Eagle Pass. It is owned by the city but was recently seized by the State of Texas. Federal Border Patrol agents have been blocked from the park since then, a move the Border Patrol Union publicly supports.  

The litigation is one of several legal challenges in federal court by the Biden administration over Texas' border enforcement policies, including floating barriers on the Rio Grande as well as trespassing arrests and incarceration of illegal immigrants by the state. Those cases have yet to reach the Supreme Court.

Fox News' Bill Melugin, Fox News Digital's Bradford Betz, Danielle Wallace and The Associated Press contributed to this report.