Nebraska will send state troopers down to the United States-Mexico border to help law enforcement in Texas respond to high illegal immigration levels, the governor announced this weekend.
“Nebraska is stepping up to help Texas respond to the ongoing crisis on their border with Mexico,” Gov. Pete Ricketts said in a statement. “The disastrous policies of the Biden-Harris Administration created an immigration crisis on the border. While the federal government has fallen short in its response, Nebraska is happy to step up to provide assistance to Texas as they work to protect their communities and keep people safe.”
More than two dozen Nebraska State Patrol officers will travel approximately 900 miles south to Del Rio, Texas, later this month to assist Texas Department of Public Safety officers for an estimated 16 days, Ricketts said.
The move comes a little more than a week after Republican Govs. Greg Abbott of Texas and Doug Ducey of Arizona asked the other 48 governors to consider sending their police to help overwhelmed local and federal departments.
“Given the staggering number of violations now occurring in Texas and Arizona, additional manpower is needed from any state that can spare it. With your help, we can apprehend more of these perpetrators of state and federal crimes, before they can cause problems in your state,” the governors wrote in a letter released earlier this month, noting the threats posed by drug smugglers and illegal immigrants with criminal histories.
Abbott and Ducey said out-of-state law enforcement officers, as well as their own, will have broader policing authorities and be able to arrest noncitizens who come across the border on trespassing charges and human smuggling charges. Normally, only federal authorities such as the Border Patrol can arrest people for immigration offenses, but the two governors expanded arrest authorities by declaring a disaster and emergency.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, announced last week that the state would send its police to Texas.