LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders deployed Arkansas national guard men and women today from Fort Chaffee to the southern border.
Sanders said this 30-day mission is all about the safety and security of U.S. during a time of crisis.
“We need your help because we know we need the very best to take on this mission because it won’t be an easy one, but I certainly wouldn’t have asked our guardsmen to do this if it wasn’t focused on the safety and security of our country,” Sanders said.
Sanders noted that this crisis includes a mass of illegal immigrants coming across the border, along with deadly drugs like fentanyl and human traffickers operating with free reign.
“I was recently at a border briefing at Texas a month ago in just a few weeks they had already apprehended more people in that month that were on our terrorist watch list than the previous six years,” Sanders said.
She said she has seen firsthand the support Arkansas and the country has received from the National Guard since she took office, and she said she is confident their expertise will be useful at the border.
Behind the dozens of soldiers were family members, coming to honor their loved ones and see them off to their next mission.
Rebecca, whose son was one of the guardsmen deployed, expressed how proud she was of her son.
“I was thinking last night… after I took him to sign up for the national guard… my heart was so proud, and I am proud every time he goes out because I know that’s what he loves,” Rebecca said.
