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By Chloe Mayer
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Tennessee has become the latest state to deploy its National Guard troops to Texas to help police the border with Mexico amid increasing tensions over illegal immigration.
Republican states are embroiled in a stand-off with President Joe Biden's Democratic administration, led by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. The Republican has described the situation as an "invasion" and has accused the federal government of failing to "secure our southern border."
Politicians across the political spectrum are divided about the best way to deal with skyrocketing immigration. The issue has been brewing for years but caught the public's imagination in December 2022, when a caravan of well over 1,000 migrants filed into the U.S. at El Paso, Texas. Abbott vowed to bus migrants to Washington, D.C., so the Biden administration could deal with them on the capital's streets.
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For his part, Biden said he has "done all I can do" to fix the problem, but GOP governors are taking the issue into their own hands by sending troops to Texas, sparking fears of a U.S. "civil war."
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Now, Tennessee is preparing to send National Guard troops to the area, Governor Bill Lee announced on X, formerly Twitter, over the weekend.
"As America faces the most severe border crisis in decades, TN is showing the rest of the country what it means to lead," he wrote.
"Today, I joined TN National Guard members who will soon deploy on a voluntary mission to secure the Southern border as the federal government fails to act."
Texas is running a joint operation between the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Military Department along the border in a campaign called "Operation Lone Star," which launched in 2021.
And since 2021, 14 Republican-led states—Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming—have sent troops to the southern border to show support for Texas.
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In January, 25 Republican governors released a joint statement to express "solidarity" with Texas' plight and asserting that the state had a right to "protect itself."
"We stand in solidarity with our fellow Governor, Greg Abbott, and the State of Texas in utilizing every tool and strategy, including razor wire fences, to secure the border," the statement said.
"We do it in part because the Biden Administration is refusing to enforce immigration laws already on the books and is illegally allowing mass parole across America of migrants who entered our country illegally."
Last month, four Republican governors sent more troops to the border, beginning with Florida's Ron DeSantis, who sent 1,000 National Guard members and 76 Florida Highway Patrol troopers to Texas to help deal with what he described as a "border invasion." His move was followed by South Dakota's Kristi Noem, who sent 60 soldiers; Georgia's Brian Kemp, who had already deployed 29 troops and vowed to send more; and Indiana's Eric Holcomb, who promised to send 50.
Newsweek has reached out by email to Abbott and the White House for comment.
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