South Dakota joins other GOP-led states in sending National Guard to southern border

South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem has joined with other governors of GOP-led states in plans to send National Guard troops to the southwest U.S. border to help with the record surge of immigrants.

"I'm officially announcing up to 50 National Guard troops to Texas to help secure our border. The Biden Administration has failed to keep America safe. We shouldn't be making our own communities vulnerable by sending police to fix Biden's border crisis," Noem said Monday.

The governor's office followed up Tuesday morning, saying that the deployment would last 30 to 60 days and that it would be paid for by "private donations." However, the office did not provide further details about the deployment, according to the Argus Leader.

The White House has yet to respond to a question Tuesday from Just the News about whether the guard units will be permitted to work in an official capacity along the border, where efforts are largely led by such federal agencies as U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Customs and Immigration Enforcement.

The South Dakota guardsmen will join others from Arizona, Florida, and Nebraska. 

GOP Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Pete Ricketts of Nebraska announced earlier this month that their states' National Guard would go to the Texas border.

Border officials also encountered a record number of unaccompanied minors in March, over 18,000, though the number decreased in April. March also had a two-decade high in illegal immigrant encounters at the southwest U.S. border.

On June 10, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, Republicans, cosigned a letter to other governors across the country asking for assistance at the border.

"Securing our border with Mexico is the federal government’s responsibility. But the Biden administration has proven unwilling or unable to do the job," the governors wrote in their letter asking for help, according to The Daily Wire. "This failure to enforce federal immigration laws causes banns that spill over into every State."