National Guard

He announced the deployment of a new operations unit in anticipation of the border health policy ending later this week. The pandemic-era public health order allows for the rapid expulsion of some migrants.

Some government watchdogs say the long-running mission is an inappropriate use of the Guard. Even the Pentagon has been looking for an off-ramp.

The referral bonuses are designed to boost recruiting at the National Guard, which fell thousands of troops short of its goal last year.

The National Guard fell about 9,000 troops short of its goal in 2022. Some states are improving their outreach and incentive plans to try to counter that trend.

State Rep. Richard Raymond, a Democrat from Laredo, said he designed the legislation with Operation Lone Star in mind.

The soldier is the 10th known Texas Guard member linked to the mission to die since its rapid expansion began in September 2021.

Texas National Guardmembers held their first union meeting Monday evening in Del Rio. They unionized after facing a host of issues during an involuntary deployment to the border as part of Governor Abbott’s controversial border security program, Operation Lone Star.

The call for action from Texas Democrats comes as another service member based in the city of Pharr survived a suicide attempt on Sunday, according to an incident report obtained by Army Times and The Texas Tribune.

Natural disasters, domestic protests, foreign wars and COVID-19 are just a few of the missions that the Army and Air National Guard have been tasked with in recent years, and critics argue that heavy deployments are straining the force. Some states — like Texas, California, and Florida — are pleading for more troops so they can better rotate personnel.

The governor summoned additional manpower after an increase in the number of people illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.