National Guard troops set to be stationed at the U.S. Capitol building should instead head to help with the border crisis, says a Republican congressman.
North Carolina Rep. Greg Murphy plans to introduce the Guard the Border Act, which would reassign 95% of the National Guard troops deployed to support security operations in Washington, D.C., and around the Capitol to support operations on the United States-Mexico border.
“They’re standing around doing nothing. There’s no credible threat,” Murphy told the Washington Examiner about the Guard troops around the Capitol. “The only threat to our nation’s security right now is at our southern border.”
NATIONAL GUARD ASSOCIATION CALLS FOR END OF MISSION AT THE CAPITOL
National Guard troops have been stationed around the U.S. Capitol complex since the Jan. 6 riot at the building, with a peak of 26,000 Guard troops from all 50 states and three territories in Washington, D.C. Fencing surrounds the Capitol complex.
Last week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved the deployment of 2,300 Guard troops until May 23 despite a growing number of defense association officials as well as Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress calling for an end to the massive security posture.
“Take down our wall in Washington, which is no longer needed,” Murphy said. “Police our borders, which now, because of Biden’s policies, is desperately needed.”
His bill would not remove guardsmen that are already in Washington to the border but would reroute troops headed to the Capitol to the border instead.
“The Biden administration, while still refusing to call this a crisis, has been calling for assistance,” Murphy said, adding that Biden has deployed FEMA to help at the border and has asked for volunteers to assist with operations.
It would not be unprecedented for National Guard troops to help with border operations. Former Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump all mobilized Guard troops to assist with border enforcement. Military troops are legally prohibited from activities such as detaining migrants or seizing drugs from smugglers, but they can assist border enforcement agencies with support for border surveillance and supporting the processing of migrants.
Murphy, a physician and a member of the Border Security Caucus, said he plans to travel to the border this weekend. He said that unaccompanied minors and children are coming to the border “in numbers that we have never seen before.”
“These kids are being put in human trafficking. They’re being involved in drugs,” Murphy said. “To allow this to be done to children, especially by drug cartels and human traffickers, is an unconscionable sin.”
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It is unlikely that the bill will get any traction in the Democrat-controlled House, but it serves to highlight Republican messages about the discrepancy between the border and the Capitol.
On Monday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy led a delegation of 13 Republicans to the border, and Texas Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn will lead a Senate delegation to the border next Friday.
