Gov. Greg Abbott’s foray into performative peacekeeping across state lines appears to be drawing to a close.
Texas National Guard troops are expected to return from Illinois soon after being sidelined by legal challenges that continue to play out in the federal courts, ABC News reports, citing two U.S. officials.
Abbott early last month authorized the White House’s mobilization Texas National Guard troops to other states to “safeguard” Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. About 200 were dispatched to the Chicago area.
State and local officials in Illinois pushed back at the deployment, prompting a federal court to rule the Guard troops couldn’t be activated but could remain in the state. The case has since reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where it remains pending as the justices await more legal briefings, according to the Texas Tribune.
Since the Texas troops can’t be deployed, they have been idled at the Army Reserve Center in Elwood, Illinois, where they continue to train in addition to receiving three hots and a cot on the taxpayers’ tab, CBS News reports. The news organization estimates the first 30 days of the deployment sucked up $3.5 million in public dollars.
Richard Hayes, a former commander of the Illinois National Guard, told CBS he’s never seen anything like it during his military career.
“You’re going to have to feed them, and you are going to have to house them, so you are going to have to hire vendors or buy food and have the cooks cook the food,” he added, explaining the cost to taxpayers.
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