HOUSTON, Texas — The 1,000 National Guard deployment at the border has begun, Breitbart Texas has confirmed. Though previous reports stated that the surge had started earlier in August, Breitbart Texas revealed that it had not yet begun at that time. As a result, the Associated Press (AP) retracted their story.
A spokeswoman from the Texas National Guard (TNG) told Breitbart Texas, “We can confirm that there are troops on the border at this time.” She added that the troops on the ground are a part of Operation Strong Safety, to a portion of the Rio Grande Sector of the Texas-Mexico border.
Major General Nichols confirmed during a briefing, attended by Breitbart Texas, that more than 400 but less than 1,000 troops had been deployed.
The date at which the troops were deployed cannot be confirmed at this time, according to the National Guard.
On August 14, the AP incorrectly reported that the deployment of TNG forces had begun as part of Texas Governor Rick Perry’s deployment of 1,000 soldiers to a portion of Texas’ southern border. Other media outlets immediately picked up the AP’s story.
Only one day later, Breitbart Texas reported that while there were Texas National Guardsmen on the border at the time of the AP’s report, the troops were not part of Operation Strong Safety. At that time, only about 20 soldiers were in the Rio Grande Sector, “as part of the planning and preparation phase of the deployment,” Breitbart Texas’s Bob Price reported. “They are there, according to sources in the Texas Capitol, to prepare facilities for the imminent deployment of the TNG forces expected to leave Camp Swift in the very near future.”
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