Pennsylvania National Guard troops are not going to patrol the southern border of Texas.
In a party-line 27-22 vote on Tuesday, Pennsylvania’s Republican-led Senate passed a resolution calling for Gov. Josh Shapiro to send members of the Pennsylvania National Guard to the southern U.S. border in Texas to assist the efforts to curb illegal immigration.
The Pennsylvania Guard is not unfamiliar with border enforcement missions. From 2006 to 2008, the Pennsylvania Guard deployed troops in support of the federal Operation Jump Start under President George W. Bush, providing more than 900 soldiers and airmen to border states like California, Arizona, and Texas.
This time, however, the Democrat governor said that was not going to happen.
“Governor Shapiro has been clear that our country needs a secure border and Congress needs to pass comprehensive reform to fix our broken immigration system,” said Manuel Bonder, a spokesman for Mr. Shapiro.
“This issue requires leaders in both parties to step up and deliver real, comprehensive solutions—not more of the failed talking points and political grandstanding that have brought us decades without immigration reform.”
The governor’s response comes hours after state Senator Republicans tried to make the case that Pennsylvania has a “compelling interest” to help Texas secure its border with Mexico, arguing that Pennsylvanians are already feeling the impact a poorly enforced national border has on their life.
“Fentanyl has killed tens of thousands of residents throughout this Commonwealth, school districts are increasingly burdened, available affordable housing is constricted and strained social benefits are diverted from legal citizens,” they said in Tuesday’s resolution.
Over the past year, they noted, illegal immigration cost Pennsylvania taxpayers more than $1.6 billion. That’s equivalent to a burden of $318 on each Pennsylvania household.
The Republicans also raised the recent killing of a young woman at the University of Georgia campus by an illegal immigrant, warning that this tragedy could happen to any part of this nation.
“This crisis knows no borders, it knows no bounds,” said Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman. “In response to suggestions that this is not a Pennsylvania problem, I have two words: Laken Riley.”
As of Thursday, 14 states have deployed their national guards to secure the border. They are Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Idaho, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Texas, meanwhile, is toughening its measures against illegal border crossings in the wake of worsened disagreements with the Biden administration over immigration enforcement. The power to enforce immigration law has traditionally fallen to the federal government, and the Biden administration is accusing Texas of infringing on that authority by enacting a law that, among other things, allows Texas police to arrest those suspected of entering the state illegally.
The law in question, known as SB4, was allowed to take effect for several hours by the U.S Supreme Court, only to be blocked again by a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals panel. The freeze on SB4 will stay in place until the 5th Circuit rules on Texas’ request to allow the law to be enforced while the penal considers its constitutionality.
Passed by the Texas legislature last year, SB4 makes it a state crime to enter the United States outside of a port of entry—which is already a federal offense. The law also makes local law enforcement responsible for transporting offenders to the border. State judges are required to expel convicted criminals to Mexico, but could drop the charges if they agree to return to Mexico voluntarily.
In terms of penalties, SB4 makes illegal border crossing a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in prison. It also creates a state felony charge for repeat offenders, who could face a punishment of two to 20 years in prison.
