The state of West Virginia spent more than $900,000 in 2023 to send a group of West Virginia National Guard volunteers to the southern border as part of Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s controversial Operation Lone Star initiative, according to received documents via the Freedom of Information Act and shared by the nonprofit watchdog group American Oversight.
The cost of about $907,000 was used to send 53 National Guard members, all of whom volunteered for the mission, to Eagle Pass, Texas, for a month. Details of their activities on the deployment are scant, and both the governor’s office and West Virginia National Guard officials have repeatedly declined or ignored West Virginia Watch’s requests for more information since August.
In June 2023 – about two months before the Guard members left for the border at the request of Governor Jim Justice – Representative of the National Guard to WV News The estimated cost of the initiative was $600,000. In a press conference that same month, Justice said taxpayers would have to “cover the cost” of the effort.
The documents received American supervision in September 2023 – the same month in which Troops returned — the total expenditure was $907,178. However, itemized information on these expenditures has been redacted, making it complex to determine what the money was used for.
Representatives of the West Virginia National Guard did not respond to requests for comment for this article.
CJ Harvey, communications director for the Department of Justice, referred questions about these costs and the justification for the deployment to a Press release starting in August 2023, when the troops will be welcomed home by the Governor.
The press release did not provide any information on the cost of the initiative. In general, it said the forces deployed are designed to “detect, deter, and disrupt transnational criminal activity, including human smuggling and trafficking, and the flow of illegal narcotics and drugs into the United States between official points of entry.”
During the month-long operation, according to the press release, West Virginia National Guard members encountered more than 10,000 migrants attempting to enter the United States. According to the Department of Homeland Security, state personnel – including the National Guard – are not authorized to process people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border because that is a federal responsibility.
A report from a member of the West Virginia National Guard to MetroNews in Augustdescribed in detail how members of his unit patrolled the border, but gave no insight into their actual responsibilities or duties on the ground.
Reports from other countries where troops have been sent for similar missions in recent years have shown that there are often there is not much for them to do. They would be assigned employment work, This includes shoveling horse manure, monitoring cameras and filing paperwork.
West Virginia was one of at least 14 Republican-governed states whose governors responded to Abbott’s request to send troops to the border for Operation Lone Star. Although West Virginia has not sent any more troops since the deployment in August 2023, other states continue to do so This year, millions of taxpayer dollars will be spent on what critics say is nothing more than political theater ahead of a contentious election.
The initiative is marked by controversy, including allegations of inhumane treatment of migrants and asylum seekers, civil rights violations, and more. Several federal lawsuits have been filed against Abbott and the state of Texas over incidents at the border. Eagle Pass is a Focus Many of these tensions are due to the situation: locals do not know how to respond to the militarization of their community, while immigration numbers are falling to fresh lows.
