Arkansas pledges troops for border

South Dakota also answering call from Texas

FILE — In this Jan. 13, 2020 file photo, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson speaks to reporters in Little Rock. (AP Photo/Andrew Demillo, File)
FILE — In this Jan. 13, 2020 file photo, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson speaks to reporters in Little Rock. (AP Photo/Andrew Demillo, File)

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said Tuesday she will use a donation from a Republican donor to fund a deployment of up to 50 South Dakota National Guard troops to the U.S. border with Mexico. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is also sending a similar number of Arkansas National Guard troops to Texas.

Noem and Hutchinson joined a growing list of Republican governors -- including Florida, Nebraska and Iowa -- promising to send law enforcement officers to Texas as the GOP ramps up a political fight with President Joe Biden over border security.

Noem's spokesman, Ian Fury, said the South Dakota governor decided to fund the state's deployment with a private donation "to help alleviate the cost to South Dakota taxpayers," but declined to provide estimates on the cost of the deployment, citing "security reasons."

Willis and Reba Johnson's Foundation made the donation directly to the state, Fury said. Willis Johnson, a Tennessee-based billionaire, is the founder of an online used-car auction called Copart. He regularly makes large contributions to Republicans, including $200,000 to the Trump Victory Committee last year.

Noem, a potential presidential contender, drew a distinction between her decision to send the National Guard and other governors who are sending state police officers.

"The border is a national security crisis that requires the kind of sustained response only the National Guard can provide," she said in a statement. "We should not be making our own communities less safe by sending our police or Highway Patrol to fix a long-term problem President Biden's Administration seems unable or unwilling to solve."

But Democratic state Sen. Reynold Nesiba said the fact Noem is using a donor to pay for the deployment shows it is not a "real priority" for the state, but instead gives her "political cover." He said he was looking into whether using a private donation to fund the deployment is legal.

The federal government usually pays for National Guard deployments to other states. When troops respond to an in-state emergency, they are paid from state government funds, according to Duke Doering, a historian with the South Dakota National Guard Museum. He said he had never heard of a private donor funding a deployment.

The South Dakota National Guard is expected to deploy for 30 to 60 days, Noem said, while the other states involved are sending law enforcement officers for roughly two-week stints.

Meanwhile, Hutchinson on Tuesday authorized a 90-day deployment of up to 40 National Guard troops to the border. His office said the deployment is not being paid for by a private donor.

"I have authorized this mission in response to an official request from Texas on the urgent matter at our southern border," Hutchinson said in a news release. "My hope is that our 90 days of support will improve the security of our country and reduce the adverse impact of illegal immigration on Arkansas."

Iowa has sent about 25 State Patrol officers to the border under a national interstate mutual aid network called an Emergency Management Assistance Compact. Under the compact, Texas has agreed to reimburse Iowa for the expense of the state troopers, though Iowa is paying expenses for the state troopers initially. The Iowa National Guard also has 24 soldiers providing assistance to law enforcement at the border under a federally-funded activation in response to a Trump administration request in October 2020.

A spokesman for the Nebraska State Patrol, which has sent 25 troopers to Texas, said it has not received any private donations for the deployment.

Large numbers of migrants have been showing up at the U.S. border with Mexico, with many surrendering to U.S. Border Patrol agents and seeking legal asylum status. But the numbers of families and children traveling without their parents crossing into the U.S. have dropped sharply since March and April, while the encounters with single adults have remained high.

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