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National Guard deployment to Texas border paid for by Disaster Response Funds
news
January 17, 2024
National Guard deployment to Texas border paid for by Disaster Response Funds
By PAUL MONIES OKLAHOMA WATCH,

Oklahoma spent more than $544,000 for the state’s National Guard to help secure the U.S. border with Mexico, money that came from a disaster fund typically used for National Guard response to tornadoes and other extreme weather events.

Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, heeding a call from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, called up the National Guard for a 30-day state deployment in August. More than a dozen Republican governors, who have criticized President Joe Biden’s border security policies, sent National Guard members to assist Abbott’s Operation Lone Star.

The deployments drew criticism from Democrats because border security historically is a federal responsibility and National Guard soldiers and airmen called up for that role had fewer enforcement powers than U.S. Border Patrol agents.

Stitt joined Abbott and Republican governors from Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota at a press conference in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Aug. 21. Stitt said he was concerned about illegal drugs like fentanyl being smuggled across the border and people on terrorism watchlists evading authorities at border crossings.

“Every state is a border state,” Stitt said at the press conference, echoing talking points from fellow Republican governors.

Lt. Col. LeeAnn Tumblson, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Air National Guard, said during the August mission a 50-person contingent of Oklahoma’s National Guard helped with 969 detections that resulted in 23 apprehensions by law enforcement. They successfully turned back 1,183 migrants without incident, she said.

Costs for the deployment are complicated. The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security typically pays for state active-duty National Guard deployments out of that agency’s State Emergency Fund, said spokeswoman Keli Cain.

Because the Oklahoma deployment used equipment funded by the federal government, the state will have to turn around and reimburse the federal government for those costs, Tumblson said.

The deployment to Texas was under the governor’s powers to deploy the Guard under state active duty status. Texas did not reimburse Oklahoma for the costs. Unlike federal deployments domestically or internationally, Guard members deploying under state active duty aren’t eligible for federal Veterans Administration care if they get injured.

The influx of migrants at the country’s southern border with Mexico stems partly from the expiration of a Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy that had asylum seekers wait in Mexico as their cases progressed through the U.S. immigration court system. A separate pandemic- related health emergency that limited migrant crossings expired in May, putting further pressure on immigration authorities at the southern border.

Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in the spring of 2021 with thousands of state Department of Public Safety troopers dispatched to the Texas border. They were followed by thousands more members of the Texas National Guard. To date, Texas has spent more than $5 billion on the initiative, with some of the money diverted from its prison budget.

Abbott recently signed a Texas law that made illegal immigration a state crime, allowing police to arrest people they suspect crossed the Rio Grande between ports of entry. That law, which takes effect in March, likely sets up a legal challenge from the federal government.

Stitt’s callup of the Oklahoma National Guard to help with Operation Lone Star included a provision to go back in 2024 with another 50 Guard members if the need arises, Tumblson said.

Stitt’s office said there are no plans for a second deployment to the Texas-Mexico border.

Paul Monies has been a reporter with Oklahoma Watch since 2017 and covers state agencies and public health. Contact him at (571) 3193289 or pmonies@oklahomawatch. org. Follow him on Twitter @pmonies.

Jefferson Highway keeps on rollin’
A: Main, news
Jefferson Highway keeps on rollin’
By JERRY FINK MANAGING EDITOR 
June 11, 2025
Long before Route 66, there was the Jefferson Highway. Route 66 was a federally funded, 2,448-mile highway that crossed the country going east and west from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, Californ...
A: Main, news
Jacob Foos re-hired as Eufaula City Manager
By JERRY FINK MANAGING EDITOR 
June 11, 2025
It was a surprise hire, but not a total surprise as former Eufaula City Manager Jacob Foos was rehired as Eufaula’s city manager. The hiring took place following an executive session at a special meet...
A: Main, news
Complications of finding a city manager
June 11, 2025
Jeb Jones resigned as city manager in April. He was hired in 2022 to replace Jacob Foos, who had resigned months earlier and became assistant city manager in the City of Shawnee. Andrea Weckmuel-ler B...
A: Main, news
LEA Poker Run Saturday
June 11, 2025
The Golden Eagle Poker Run, one of the most popular events on Lake Eufaula, is Saturday, June 14. This year’s theme is Pirates & Parrots, so get your crew and costumes ready for a day of high seas adv...
McIntosh County Democrat wins Sequoyah Award
A: Main, news
McIntosh County Democrat wins Sequoyah Award
June 11, 2025
The Oklahoma Press Association presented its Better Newspaper Contest Awards during the OPA Annual convention June 6-7, at the Grand Casino Hotel and Resort in Shawnee. The top award a newspaper can r...
A: Main, news
Commissioners getting an increase in road spending
By JERRY FINK MANAGING EDITOR 
June 11, 2025
Rep. Tim Turner, R-Kinta, announced some good news and some bad news at the Monday morning Monthly County Commissioner meeting. First, the bad news, at least for those who oppose wind turbines in the ...
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Bridge dedicated to World War II veteran
A: Main, news
Bridge dedicated to World War II veteran
By JERRY FINK MANAGING EDITOR 
June 11, 2025
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation recently honored the late veteran William “Bill” Antrum Fox Jr. by naming a bridge after him. The William A. Fox Jr. Memorial Bridge is on SH 9 East at Nine M...
A: Main, news
Ten Mile Yard Sale this weekend
June 11, 2025
Bring an umbrella Bargain hunters set your alarms. The annual 10-milelong yard sale begins at 7 a.m. Sunday, stretching from the east end of Eufaula, down SH 9 east through Longtown and past Enterpris...
Preliminary set for 2 suspected of killing Eufaulan
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Preliminary set for 2 suspected of killing Eufaulan
June 11, 2025
Two Muskogee men charged with killing a Eufaula resident were ordered to appear at a preliminary hearing in district court at 10 a.m., Thursday, July 3. Suspects Kyren Omari Boulware, 19, and Michael ...
2 dead, 4 injured in pileup
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2 dead, 4 injured in pileup
June 11, 2025
Two people from Marshall, Texas were killed, and four others were injured in a harrowing four-vehicle pileup on U.S. 69 half a mile south of the Muskogee City Limits at about 2:20 p.m. on Monday, June...
Fink inducted into OPA Half Century Club
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Fink inducted into OPA Half Century Club
June 11, 2025
Managing Editor Jerry Fink of The Eufaula Indian Journal and the McIntosh County Democrat was inducted into the Oklahoma Press Association Half Century Club on Saturday, June 7 at the Grand in Shawnee...
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