(Source: MIRS.news, Published 05/09/2024) Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton) proposed spending $8 million Thursday to deploy Michigan National Guard members to the Mexico-United States border in Texas. The measure failed by a party-line ahead of the Senate approving next year's spending for the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA).
Thursday, the Senate approved nine of its budget bills for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. Nesbitt's amendment aimed to attach itself to Sen. Kevin Hertel (D-St. Clair Shores)'s
SB 762, consisting of more than $265 million in military and veterans affairs spending.
Its major one-time investments featured $15 million from the General Fund for infrastructure upgrades to make the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County more attractive to "next generation aircraft and future fighter missions." It featured $1.5 million for $150,000 grants to nonprofits dedicated to eliminating homelessness among military veterans, as well as more than $4.49 million to adjust operational payments to four different veterans homes.
The budget plan itself passed by a party-line, 20-18. Meanwhile, Nesbitt's amendment – one of three unsuccessful amendments introduced by Republicans – failed 16-20.
"If the federal government's not wanting to step up, the states are stepping up … you see that with Iowa, Virginia, New Hampshire, Louisiana, Florida, Missouri … (they're) all sending National Guard to help Texas do what they need to do," said Nesbitt to MIRS on his budget proposal, explaining earlier that "these National Guards are helping the state of Texas build barriers and prevent illegals from coming across, because the federal government is not doing it."
From October through March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported more than 1.34 million encounters at the Southwest Land Border, with border states consisting of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
When it comes to the immigration issue in Michigan, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) has reported that Michigan's immigration court backlog has grown from 9,225 in FY '22 to 25,343 in the ongoing FY '24. The numbers apply specifically to those who were found to be in the U.S. illegally, and are now awaiting trial in Detroit to determine if they should be deported.
Among those waiting, 5,870 were from Venezuela, 5,210 were from Mexico and 1,985 were from Guatemala.
Instead of deploying the National Guard to work with the federal government at the Southwest Land Border, which would be compensated for by the federal government, Nesbitt would like to see a state-funded deployment to assist with Texas' Operation Lone Star, which Republican Gov. Greg Abbott rolled out in 2021 with the Texas National Guard and the state's Department of Public Safety.
According to Abbott's administration, the state-led monitoring of the Southwest Land Border has led to more than 40,100 criminal arrests and more than 468 million "lethal doses of fentanyl" being seized by Texas law enforcement. Texas legislators appropriated more than $10 million in state dollars toward the operation during its last session in 2023.
By seeking to send 200 National Guard soldiers and 11 state highway patrol officers at the request of Abbott, Missouri officials in February calculated the cost would be more than $2.2 million for their state. For Louisiana, the cost for deploying 50 National Guard members – with leadership and certain equipment included – was about $3 million. Meanwhile, Indiana anticipated spending $7.1 million in February to deploy 50 soldiers for up to 10 months.
"The Democrats know they have a political issue on hand because of the drugs, the crime, the capacity issues of illegal immigrants coming across the border, and they're trying to hide … but they're not trying to change the actual policies that have created these problems," Nesbitt said.
Ahead of Nesbitt's amendment being defeated, Hertel described it as being more about political theater than state and national security.
"Here's the truth: Michigan has sent more than 400 National Guard members to the southern border in the past four years, and there is another scheduled deployment for this fall. This decision should be made by our (Major General of the National Guard) and by military experts, not politicians who have an agenda," Hertel said. "My friends on the other side of the aisle … if they were truly interested in solving this crisis – which I think we all are – then they would spend less time fearmongering, and instead stand up, and call on Congress to do their job and fix our immigration system."
Republicans in the U.S. House have been accused of holding up bipartisan immigration reform for political purposes. Simultaneously, some Republicans have argued that the best way to remediate a rise in border encounters is a "Remain-in-Mexico" policy, strictly prohibiting non-citizens from residing in the country's interior until they are vetted and approved.
Hertel's office was informed that National Guard soldiers from Michigan are expected to be deployed to the Mexico-U.S. border in the fall. They did not receive further details, outside of knowing the deployment would be financed by the federal government – indicating they'd be participating in federal immigration practices, not the operations overseen by Abbott's administration.
"To do what? To whom? To where? These are the questions that should be basic questions that are asked. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says we've sent them under (President Joe Biden) … to (do) what? To deliver water in Arizona to illegal immigrants coming across?" Nesbitt said.
He said he requested the Governor's office last week to deliver a briefing on deployments to the Southwest Land Border, and what exactly soldiers did while there. He said "we've yet to hear (a) follow up from her."
In FY '21 – near the end of former President Donald Trump's administration, as well as throughout the beginning of Biden's term – there were 1.73 million encounters at the Mexico-U.S. border recorded by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, including 1.1 million single adults, 479,728 family units and 146,925 single minors. In FY '23, there were more than 2.47 million encounters, including 1.5 million single adults, 821,537 family units and 137,275 single minors.
