Gov. Kim Reynolds says all 140 members of the Iowa National Guard and Iowa State Patrol have returned from their voluntary deployment to the U.S.-Mexico border.
The 109 National Guard soldiers were sent down to Texas from Aug. 2 to Sept. 1, and 31 State Patrol officers were sent down from Sept. 1 to Oct. 2 in response to Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s request for support of Operation Lone Star, a controversial initiative to increase Texas’ border security that he launched in 2021.
Reynolds said she chose to send troops because she believes the Biden administration has failed to sufficiently secure the southern border amid an increasing number of migrants coming to seek asylum and Mexican drug cartels smuggling illicit drugs, like fentanyl, into the country.
“In doing so, he has failed the American people. In contrast, Iowans believe in duty and responsibility. It's why I said yes,” she said. “What's happening at our border is a tragedy and it's putting our national security at risk at a time when the stakes are too high for our defenses to be down.”
Reynolds said the deployment cost $1.93 million and was funded using federal COVID-19 relief dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act.
