U.S. Air Force Technical Sgt. Zackery Payne, an aircraft maintainer assigned to the 130th Maintenance Group in Charleston, salutes an aircraft prior to taking off during the unit’s Fly Away Readiness Exercise (F.L.A.R.E.) on March 30 at the Combat Readiness Training Center (CRTC) in Gulfport, Mississippi. (Photo courtesy of the WV National Guard)

CHARLESTON — Heeding a request for assistance from Texas, Gov. Jim Justice is sending a small group of West Virginia National Guard members to the southern border with Mexico even as the Guard continues to serve in the state’s prisons and jails.

Speaking during his weekly administration briefing Wednesday morning, Justice said he approved 50 National Guard soldiers and airmen to go to Texas on a 30-day mission to support Texas in Operation Lone Star as part of an Emergency Management Assistance Compact.

“Today, I’m announcing another mission for our National Guard,” Justice said. “I am committing 50 soldiers and airmen from the National Guard to Texas to help respond to the crisis at the southern border.”

West Virginia is joining other states, including Florida and Idaho, that have committed either their National Guard or law enforcement officers to the Texas/Mexico border. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wrote a May 16 letter to his fellow governor seeking assistance at the border after President Joe Biden ended the Title 42 expulsion program.

“Many governors are doing this and everything. The situation is terrible,” Justice said. “Gov. Abbott wrote several of us and requested help. I surely want to step up and do our part.”

A Texas National Guard soldier ties rows of barbed-wire to be installed near a gate at the border fence in El Paso, Texas, on May 11. (AP Photo)

Title 42 is a COVID-19 health order holdover from the administration of former President Donald Trump that sent asylum seekers back to their countries of origin to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

The Biden administration initially kept Title 42 in place, but tried to rescind it in 2022. Federal court rulings had kept Title 42 in place, but with the ending of the federal COVID-19 emergency in early May, Title 42 went away at midnight on May 11.

Justice said the 50 National Guard members going to Texas will begin training for their mission and head to the southern border in August for the 30-day period, though Justice said it could be longer. West Virginia also will pay for the deployment, though it was unclear Wednesday how much the deployment would cost the state.

According to monthly data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the monthly migrant encounters on the U.S. border with Mexico totaled 275,448 in April, with the number of encounters peaking in December 2022 at 301,668. According to the Pew Research Center, recent migrant encounters are at numbers not seen since more than 20 years ago. Many of the migrants include people from Central and South America.

Republicans have long been critical of lax southern border enforcement, which they link to the increase in dangerous fentanyl brought in from China and distributed by drug cartels into the U.S. Justice said the Biden administration’s border policy also leads to human trafficking and causes a national security issue. According to the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, 96 individuals on terrorist watchlists have attempted to cross into the U.S. during fiscal year 2023.

“We know exactly what is going on: from human trafficking to absolutely the potential of terrorists coming into our nation. More importantly than anything, the fentanyl outbreak and outrage,” Justice said. “I think we all have to step up and do our part to try to curb this craziness from the Biden administration that has caused an absolute epidemic. Nevertheless, they will be going. We’re really proud of them and will wish them Godspeed to get home safe and sound and they’ll do incredible work.”

While the National Guard contingent Justice is sending to the southern border is small, members of the Guard also are assisting the state in filling vacancies in the state’s system of 11 prisons, 10 regional jails, 10 juvenile centers and three work-release sites. More than 300 National Guard members continue to help staff the state’s prisons and jails through August, with the cost expected to exceed $20 million.

Justice issued the state of emergency proclamation last August to address the vacancy rates across the state’s prisons and regional jail system. The number of overall vacancies in the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation as of May 8 was 1,044, up from the 1,022 reported to lawmakers in mid-April and presenting a vacancy rate of nearly 30%. For correctional officers, the vacancy rate is more than 33%.

Justice said Wednesday sending 50 members of the National Guard to the southern border would not harm the National Guard’s commitment to the state’s prisons and regional jails.

“We are fortunate enough to have many folks who are in the National Guard, and we have it completely covered,” Justice said. “We do not want to take away from the commitment to corrections, and we won’t. We had 50 people who stepped up and volunteered and said they were ready to go. I couldn’t be more proud of them. We’re not going to drop the ball on corrections.”

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.