Southern Border
National Guard soldiers return from $850,000 Texas border deployment
Fifty South Dakota National Guard soldiers from a unit based in Watertown have returned home after a month-long, $850,000 deployment to Eagle Pass, Texas. Ian Fury, spokesman for Gov. Kristi Noem, released some details of the deployment Wednesday after previously declining to divulge information during the deployment “for operational security reasons.” The unit, Alpha Battery, […]
Details scant on Guard’s border deployment as Noem visits troops
Gov. Kristi Noem confirmed Tuesday that 50 South Dakota National Guard soldiers are on a previously announced deployment to the nation’s southern border, but she didn’t say what unit they’re from, how long they’ll be there, what it’ll cost, or exactly what they’re doing. South Dakota Searchlight sent messages about those and other aspects of […]
At the border, politicians play while migrants pay
Sister Teresa Ann Wolf from the Mother of God Monastery in Watertown recently comforted a young, pregnant Guatemalan woman who collapsed in pain after crossing the Rio Grande River, her baby breached and both lives in peril. Gov. Kristi Noem recently flew to the Texas border, where she joined Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and a […]
Noem says National Guard deployment to southern border will begin next month
Gov. Kristi Noem said during a press conference Monday that a previously announced South Dakota National Guard deployment to the border will begin Sept. 1. Noem made the comments during a livestreamed appearance at the border with fellow Republican governors Greg Abbott of Texas, Kim Reynolds of Iowa, Jim Pillen of Nebraska and Kevin Stitt […]
Noem plans to use emergency and disaster money to pay for border troop deployment
Gov. Kristi Noem’s funding source for a troop deployment to the U.S.-Mexico border is the state’s Emergency and Disaster Fund, a revelation that caused a top-ranking legislator to criticize the plan and question its legality. Noem announced the impending troop deployment Thursday in a news release, saying she plans to send at least 50 National […]
Noem orders National Guard troops to Mexican border again
Gov. Kristi Noem announced plans Thursday to deploy more South Dakota National Guard troops to the nation’s southern border this summer. Noem has sent South Dakota soldiers to the border previously. She said the new deployment comes in response to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s request for assistance. Noem is joining 12 other Republican governors who […]
Biden administration proposes major new limits on asylum at the border
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is rolling out a proposed rule that for two years would bar migrants from applying for asylum at the Southern border if they have not first asked for protection in a country they traveled through. The administration is seeking to limit asylum requests at the U.S.-Mexico border as a pandemic-era […]
Funding needed to curb fentanyl smuggling at ports of entry, administration officials say
WASHINGTON — Biden administration officials at a U.S. Senate hearing Wednesday on the deadly illicit drug fentanyl said they need more money for better screening technology at ports of entry at the Southern border. They also said the U.S. needs to keep pressure on China due to its role in the sale of chemicals used […]