A Montana National Guard unit is headed to Texas after Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed an executive disaster declaration earlier this week for the U.S.-Mexico border.

The deployment is in response to a request from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, also a Republican, through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. The Montana National Guard is sending 10 soldiers south on state active duty. 

The unit will help with vehicle maintenance and repair as requested by Texas, according to Kaitlin Price, spokesperson for Gianforte. 

“President Biden has left our southern border completely exposed and overrun by drug cartels, who are bringing deadly crime and drugs into our country,” Gianforte said in a statement announcing the deployment on April 2. “While he refuses to do his job, Republican governors are stepping up to do it for him.” 

All 10 volunteered for the mission, Price said, although the governor’s office did not immediately know the identity of the soldiers or their hometowns. The guardsmen are expected to arrive in Texas on April 8 as a part of Operation Lone Star. They will return to Montana on May 12. 

The mission is funded through disaster declarations and via the governor’s emergency appropriation, according to Price. The estimated cost of the mission is about $227,000. 

“The soldiers and airmen of the Montana National Guard are always ready to respond to requests for support from our fellow states,” said Major Gen. J. Peter Hronek, adjutant general for Montana, in a statement. “In recent years we have provided support outside our state in response to hurricanes, flooding and fires, and on this mission we will be supporting Texas in their ongoing border mission.”

Montana sent National Guard soldiers to the southern border last year to assist Texas’ efforts.  

Gianforte visited the southern border at Eagle Pass, Texas on Feb. 4 alongside 12 other Republican governors in a show of support for Abbott. After the trip, Gianforte instructed Hronek to begin coordinating a mission to Texas to aid Abbott in his efforts. 

Abbott is currently at loggerheads with the federal government over immigration policy and whether states can take on border security. Abbott in September 2022 deemed the flow of migrants an invasion, which he has since argued triggers a portion of the U.S. Constitution authorizing states to defend against an enemy incursion. Whether immigrants can constitute an invasion remains a point of contention among constitutional scholars and lawmakers.

The Biden administration recently sued Texas to stop Senate Bill 4, which would let state police arrest migrants that they suspect of crossing into the country illegally, from going into effect. The Biden administration argues the law is unconstitutional because it interferes with federal immigration laws.

Reporter Kate Heston can be reached at kheston@dailyinterlake.com.