Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry wants to send Louisiana National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to aid Texas in a standoff with the Biden administration over immigration policy, a mission that will cost Louisiana taxpayers up to $3 million, NOLA.com reports. Speaking from the border city of Eagle Pass, Texas on Sunday, where he and 13 other governors traveled to be briefed on the standoff, Landry said Louisiana should help Texas' bid to enforce federal immigration laws, and that he would work with the Louisiana Legislature to make that happen. “When in trouble, our neighbors in Texas have always opened their arms to us. Now it’s time we return the favor," Landry said in a statement. "I look forward to working with our legislative leadership to find a way to send our National Guard troops to the southern border to support Texas."
The proposed deployment is an escalation of Landry’s hardline immigration stance that comes amid a greater number of people crossing into the U.S. through Mexico. It also comes as Texas National Guard and state police have been preventing U.S. Border Patrol agents from accessing a 47-acre area in Eagle Pass known as Shelby Park, and from using the park to process migrants. The park abuts the Rio Grande River. Though Louisiana shares no border with Mexico, Landry, a Republican, has made immigration from that country a political focus of his first month in the governor’s office, issuing an executive order commanding state agencies to collect data on migrants and wading into a national debate on the issue through press statements and TV appearances.Â