texas

Perry Uses $38M to Add National Guard on Border

Gov. Rick Perry says he's using $38 million in emergency funds to start deploying up to 1,000 National Guard troops to Texas' border with Mexico.

Perry spokesman Rich Parsons told the San Antonio Express-News that the money will come from an unused fund for emergency radio infrastructure. At an estimated cost of $12 million a month, the emergency funds are expected to cover about three months of Guard deployment.

Perry announced he would send Guardsmen in the wake of a surge of Central American immigrants, many of them children, crossing into Texas.

Democrats have criticized the use of the Guard at the border as wasteful. Perry's use of emergency funding is expected to avoid the need for the Legislature to act until the end of the year.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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