Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., was deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border this week with members of his National Guard unit.
Kinzinger, who is a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, will remain in the U.S. for this mission as he has done with prior operations at the border while serving as an elected member of Congress, according to his office.
“The Congressman is humbled to serve his IL-16 community here in the People’s House and equally proud to serve as a reconnaissance pilot in the Air National Guard,” Maura Gillespie, Kinzinger’s communications director, said in a statement. “In both of these roles, Congressman Kinzinger fights to make our national security stronger, our border more secure, and our communities safer.”
Kinzinger’s office will remain open while he is deployed.
— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) February 13, 2019
Kinzinger previously served as a pilot in the Air Force where he participated in 120 combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, the Pentagon announced that an additional 3,750 troops would be sent to the border to support Customs and Border Protection to supplement the 2,400 troops already there. Troops were first sent to the border before the 2018 elections in November as a caravan of roughly 1,000 migrants seeking asylum traveled through Mexico and headed to San Diego.
The House is poised to vote on a spending package Thursday that allocates $1.375 billion to construct 55 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border — a significant drop from the $5.7 billion President Trump initially requested.
Trump’s request prompted a dispute with Democrats and ultimately led to a 35-day partial government shutdown. A three-week spending bill was signed at the end of January, but that funding for wide swaths of the government expires on Friday.
There is some debate over whether members of Congress may serve in the military, but no official rules are in place. Although the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces determined in 2006 that Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. could not serve both in the U.S. Senate and as an appellate judge on the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals, Graham didn’t retire from the Air Force until 2015.
