HOUSTON, Texas–The White House sent a team to Texas to determine if the deployment of the National Guard to the border will be helpful in dealing with the on-going border crisis in South Texas. The move comes at the end of President Obama’s western fund raising tour and two days after Texas Governor Rick Perry announced plans to deploy the Texas National Guard and Texas Air National Guard on a “Deter and Refer” mission to a small segment of the Texas/Mexico border.
The White House team is made up of members of the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security according to a Reuters article written by Jeff Mason. During President Obama’s fundraising trip to Texas, when he refused Governor Perry’s invitation to tour the border region in question, he said that he was open to order the deployment of guardsmen as a temporary measure. The President directed the Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, to send the team of people to evaluate the situation and report back to the White House as to whether the deployment would be helpful.
Breitbart Texas reached out to Governor Perry’s office to learn if the Governor’s staff or the staff of Texas Military Forces (TMF) Adjutant General, Major General John Nichols, would be meeting with the President’s team. Governor Perry’s Press Secretary, Lucy Nashed did not respond to the question but said, “It is going to take decisive action to secure this border. Gov. Perry has been calling for additional border security resources for years, and as the humanitarian and public safety crises on the border continue, we cannot afford to wait any longer.”
General Nichols staff has not yet responded to the question. Also in question is, can President Obama override Governor Perry’s directive to Gen. Nichols and order the Texas National Guard not to deploy? Breitbart Texas has not received an answer to that question as well.
Once President Obama finishes his western fund raising tour on Thursday, he is scheduled to meet with the leaders of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador to discuss getting more cooperation relating to the problems of the large influx of child immigrants. This invasion of children has become a public relations black-eye for the White House and a humanitarian crisis that is currently overwhelming federal resources.
Governor Perry announced Monday that he is directing the TMF to deploy up to 1,000 members of the Texas National Guard and National Guard equipment to the small section of the border. Breitbart Texas learned today that it may be up to 45 days before any visible actions will be taken in terms of people and equipment actually being deployed.
During the press conference, Perry said the minor children make up around twenty percent of the current surge of illegal immigrants.
As to what the team might find in its evaluation, Reuters quoted another official as saying, “There’s no foregone conclusion.”
Bob Price is a staff writer and a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.
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