Idaho troopers bound for border

Gov. Brad Little said Friday he is following up on a promise he made during his State of the State and Budget Address to send two more teams of Idaho State Police troopers to the Texas-Mexico border.

The troopers will be deployed in their new mission in the coming weeks.

"President Biden's disastrous open border policies have left Idahoans and Americans vulnerable," Little said.

Little said, to help curb human trafficking and stop drugs and criminals from flowing into the U.S., the Idaho Works plan calls for sending Idaho State Police troopers to train and act as a force multiplier "at our lawless southern border, as we did with fentanyl twice before.”

"There is a direct tie between the loose southern border and the flood of deadly illegal drugs like fentanyl coming into Idaho communities," he said.

Little said the troopers will learn the best tactics to respond to those who smuggle and abuse vulnerable people.

“They will come back to Idaho with better knowledge to stop these perpetrators in our state and, as they did before, our troopers will debrief and train their law enforcement colleagues around the state when they return,” Little said.

District 3 Rep. Jordan Redman said he supported Little's move.

"I think what’s happening at the southern border is horrific," he wrote in an email to The Press. "Both the human and drug trafficking that is happening is harming so many people and our country. Anything we can do as a state to help, should be done."

Redman said he is working on legislation at the state level that can help with this issue.

"I appreciate the governor taking this step, although I’m sad that our federal government has forced us to do so," he wrote.

Little also issued a proclamation Friday naming January “Idaho Stands With Texas in Securing the Nation’s Border Month.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott this week declared Texas will defend itself in the face of the crisis at the southern border, as illegal immigration continues to increase. Many Republican governors, including Little, came to his defense.

Little has taken other steps to help secure the border, including sending two teams of Idaho State Police troopers to the border of Texas last year.

And in May 2023, Little traveled to Texas to attend a border security briefing alongside nine other governors to receive an overview of Operation Lone Star. This included an explanation of the tools and strategies that the state of Texas has found effective to deter and repel illegal immigration along the border with Mexico.

Texas is embroiled in a fight with the federal government over the control of the U.S.-Mexico border.

On Monday, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 in favor of the federal government’s power to remove the razor wire that was installed along stretches of the Texas border at Abbott’s direction.

According to news reports, Abbott announced plans to defy the Biden administration and U.S. Supreme Court by ordering the installation of even more razor wire to deter migration.

“The federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the states," he said in a prepared statement. "The executive branch of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce those laws and has even violated them."

“The result is that he has smashed records for illegal immigration," Abbott said.