Gov. Rick Perry plans to deploy 1,000 National Guard troops to protect Texas border

(NaturalNews) Fed up with the federal government's inaction and in response to citizen pleas to shore up border security, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has announced plans to deploy up to 1,000 Texas National Guard troops to support Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) officers attempting to staunch the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Perry's announcement comes as a surge of growing resistance to the Obama administration's efforts to shelter tens of thousands of illegal alien children -- who have been instructed to turn themselves into U.S. authorities once on American soil so they can obtain asylum -- pouring in from Mexico. Many are smuggled by human traffickers working for notorious Mexican drug gangs.

More than 57,000 children from Central America have crossed in recent months, more than double last year's total, the Chronicle said.

A day prior to Perry's July 21 announcement, he was in Iowa, where he told a small group of people gathered at a Veteran's of Foreign Wars hall that, if President Obama failed to heed his longstanding request to send Guard troops to the border to assist local, state and federal agencies, he would use his authority as governor to do so.

"We've sent the message that if we don't get the satisfaction that the federal government's going to move and move quickly, then the state of Texas will, in fact, fill that void," Perry, who is considering a second run for president, told the group.

'Not a militarization of the border'

The Monitor, of McAllen, Texas, obtained an internal memo from another state official's office which indicates that the DPS officials want to send National Guard troops into western areas of the Rio Grande Valley and the ranch lands farther north.

"This is not a militarization of the border," said one passage of the memo quoted by the paper. "The DPS and the National Guard are working to keep any drug and human trafficking south of (U.S. Highway) 83 and with the goal of keeping any smuggling from entering major highways to transport East/West/and North."

The memo said that the cost of deploying 1,000 Guard troops would be around $12 million a month: $9.8 million for personnel and vehicle costs and an additional $2.4 million to cover the cost of operating Guard helicopters.

"It would take a month to get 1,000 troops on the ground, but they will only slowly call up the troops," the memo states.

Activating the National Guard alongside DPS personnel will bring Texas' total cost of deploying additional resources to combat the illegal immigration surge to $5 million per week, the Chronicle reported.

"It is not clear where the money will come from in the budget," says the memo, which added that the governor's office has said the money will come from "non-critical" areas such as healthcare or transportation.

Obama's 'Katrina' moment

"Our citizens are under siege," Perry said in making his announcement.

He pointed out during a press conference that the tens of thousands of minors illegally crossing the border amount to roughly only 20 percent of those who are being apprehended. The governor said he could no longer wait for Obama to act, as gang members, drug cartels and other criminal aliens flood into the state, causing crime to skyrocket and endangering Texas residents.

Perry also said Texas taxpayers should not bear the expense of processing and housing the surge of illegal immigrants, which has been linked to Obama's 2012 executive action "Dream Act," giving people from Central America the notion that if they made it to U.S. soil they would be permitted to remain in the country.

Perry has also repeatedly called on Obama to tour the border with him, calling his refusal to do so the president's "Katrina moment."

Sources:

http://www.breitbart.com

http://www.washingtontimes.com

http://www.chron.com