The North Dakota Emergency Commission has approved a $2.2 million loan from the Bank of North Dakota to send North Dakota National Guard Troops to the Texas-Mexico border.
That was the result of a request by Texas, under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact.
"This is more than a Texas-southwest border issue," North Dakota Guard Adjutant General Alan Dohrmann told the Commission. "This is impacting all of the United States."
Dohrmann told the Commission the issue is illegal drugs coming across the border. He said the North Dakota Guard will send an engineering company to the border, along with a small liason team. Dohrmann said the engineering company is trained for what Texas needs.
"What they are doing in this state operation, that Texas is mounting down there, is making sure the border is secure in the areas the National Guard is controlling down there," Dohrmann said. "And that any immigrants are going to authorized points of entry."
Dohrmann said the Guard troops were originally going to go in the fall, but the decision was made to be there in the month of August.
"We have so many college students, that if we send them in August, even if school starts just before they return, we can work with the University System and the other colleges to make sure they either have hybrid learning options, or that there is a plan to allow them to enroll in the fall semester," Dohrmann said. "August made the most sense."
Dohrmann said the $2.2 million loan will be paid back to the Bank through a deficiency appropriation in the next Legislative session. He said since it has been declared as a "national emergency," Texas will not have to reimburse North Dakota.
