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“This is nothing new. We have two units at the Southwest Border
right now that are getting ready to rotate back to Illinois,”
said Lt. Col. Brad Leighton, public affairs director for the
Illinois National Guard. “We’ve known for several months that
our unit was going to deploy to the Southwest Border as part of
a regular rotation of units there to support the U.S. Customs
and Border Protection’s mission.”
Leighton told The Center Square in an email the mission started
under former President George W. Bush in 2006 and was continued
by preceding presidents, including President Joe Biden.
As part of the federal Southwest Border Mission under Title 10,
the Illinois National Guard’s 1844th Transportation Company from
East St. Louis will soon deploy to support the U.S. Customs and
Border Protection’s mission along the southwest border. That’s
under the direction of the U.S. Northern Command and Joint Task
Force North.
About 125 service members will provide support so CBP agents can
conduct their law enforcement mission more efficiently, Leighton
said.
The federal mission is separate from the state active duty
mission in the Chicago area. There, Leighton said under the
governor’s direction from last month, the guard soldiers are
assisting the Illinois Department of Human Services with
providing services to migrants at state expense.
More than 1,900 migrants have been transferred from Texas to the
Chicago area. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has sent thousands of
migrants to other places in an effort to highlight the increased
flow of migrants crossing the border into his state.
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