Youngkin Sends Virginia National Guard Troops To Texas Border, Cites Fentanyl Crisis

VIRGINIA — After a request for help from the governor of Texas on U.S.-Mexico border security, Virginia is one of the states answering the call.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Wednesday he is sending 100 troops to assist Texas with border control. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, requested military assistance from states through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, of which Virginia is a founding member. Virginia joins several other Republican-led states in sending troops, including Florida, Tennessee and Iowa.

Youngkin cited the illegal flow of fentanyl and other drugs across the border as the opioid crisis continues to be a threat in Virginia and across the U.S. Drug overdoses are the leading cause of unnatural deaths in Virginia, and there were over 2,500 fatal overdoses in Virginia last year.

"The ongoing border crisis facing our nation has turned every state into a border state," said Youngkin in a statement. "As leadership solutions at the federal level fall short, states are answering the call to secure our southern border, reduce the flow of fentanyl, combat human trafficking and address the humanitarian crisis."

Youngkin and other Republicans have been critical of how President Joe Biden's administration has handled immigration at the border. In seeking help from states, Abbott cited the end of the federal government's Title 42, a COVID-era policy that prompted the U.S. to not let in migrants entering the U.S. illegally and not allow them to claim asylum due to COVID-19.

But since the COVID-19 national emergency ended, the Title 42 policy ended. Without the policy, migrants could seek asylum when illegally crossing the border and await immigration cases in court. With the end of Title 42, the Biden administration sent 1,500 more troops to the border as the government expected illegal border entries to increase.

The Biden administration has implemented other illegal immigration measures, including stricter measures against migrants who enter illegally, attempts to stop smuggling operations, preventing asylum for those who didn't apply ahead of time, and introducing curfews for families who cross the border illegally and await immigration court proceedings, according to the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, Abbott said Texas has spent over $4.5 billion on border security since 2021 and has hired its first "border czar." The state has sent thousands of Texas National Guard members and state troopers to the border and sent a Texas Tactical Border Force to address hotspots for illegal border crossings. Abbott has also sent buses of migrants to major U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C.