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‘We’re Basically Mall Cops’: Texas Guard Members on Border Mission

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McALLEN, Texas — After thousands of migrants crossed into Del Rio, Texas, last year and overwhelmed the authorities, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered thousands of National Guard troops to the border, sharply expanding their role in a mission known as Operation Lone Star.

For most of those called up, the service was mandatory, came on short notice and went from a tour of a few months to a yearlong deployment for a mission that Mr. Abbott has said is necessary to deter illegal migration, human smuggling and drug trafficking.

But many ordered to the border have complained of poor planning, pay problems and a lack of basic equipment, like winter gear for the cold or stethoscopes for medics. There have been Covid outbreaks on hastily created bases, where dozens of soldiers crowd together in mobile quarters so tight that commanders call them “submarine trailers.”

Hundreds sought waivers, because of the mission’s uncertain length and the disruptions it would create for their families, and were denied. In some cases, arrest warrants were issued for those who failed to report for duty.

more than a dozen Democratic members of Congress from Texas to call for an investigation of the border mission by the Guard’s inspector general, and have drawn criticism from Mr. Abbott’s Republican primary challengers, including Allen West, a former Army officer and former chairman of the Texas Republican Party, and Beto O’Rourke, the most prominent Democratic candidate for governor.

highlighted the National Guard deployment.

“Texas had no choice but to step up and address this crisis in the wake of President Biden’s and congressional Democrats’ inaction,” Nan Tolson, a spokeswoman for the governor, said in response to questions about the troubled border mission. “Texas will do whatever it takes to secure our southern border and protect Texans in President Biden’s absence.”

responded to Guard members’ concerns about equipment, pay and planning with a letter, acknowledging that there were “still numerous pay issues” and that the lodging remained “austere.”

He said that after a record number of illegal crossings, Mr. Abbott had been “forced to declare a state of emergency,” which authorized the mobilization of the Guard to support the state police on the border. He said their presence had prevented drugs from crossing the border and helped alert the federal authorities to tens of thousands of illegal migrants.

The activation of the National Guard in Texas — some of whose roughly 24,000 members had been engaged in responding to the pandemic — is expected to cost the state $2 billion this year, a spokeswoman for the Texas Military Department said.

As part of the mission, Guard members have created observation posts — usually consisting of soldiers with a Humvee — along the border, a presence meant to deter illegal crossings. They have also helped local officials and border agents with apprehensions.

huddled under the international bridge in Del Rio, Texas.

Mr. Abbott has faced enormous political pressure to respond.

According to state documents, Mr. Abbott in September requested that 1,500 troops join the 500 or so who had already been deployed to the border. Later that same week, Tucker Carlson began attacking Mr. Abbott on his Fox News show, which is popular with conservatives, for not sending more National Guard troops, and in subsequent days invited Mr. Abbott’s Republican challengers onto his show to do the same.

outspoken in his criticism, angered by state cuts to tuition assistance for the Guard last year as billions were allocated for the border mission.

Mr. Featherston and a number of other soldiers said they also were disturbed by at least four recent suicides of Guardsmen who had been called up for Operation Lone Star, though the reasons behind the suicides remained unclear. Suicides in the military represent a persistent crisis, with trauma and stress contributing to numbers that have climbed every year since 2001.

John Crutcher, a 45-year-old sergeant in the Guard and a captain for Dallas Fire-Rescue who went by Kenny, had obtained permission to temporarily delay his service to care for his wife after an emergency surgery, their daughter and his brother-in-law, who has Down syndrome and lived with them.

Still, the pressure of balancing his family life and his role leading other soldiers in the Guard weighed on him, his wife, Heather Seymour, said. “He was getting these photos from the border — here I’m guarding this R.V. park and that’s my mission,” she said. “None of it made sense to them, why it was all so important to leave their families and their jobs.”

With his temporary waiver set to eventually expire, Ms. Seymour said her husband grew increasingly agitated before killing himself. He had struggled with alcohol and post-traumatic stress from his service overseas in places like Afghanistan and had sought help. The border mission added to his struggles, she said.

Another member who sought a waiver from the mission, Joshua R. Cortez, was found dead in his car from a self-inflicted gunshot wound two days after his waiver was denied, records show.

first reported by Army Times. “That said, we need to understand the larger context,” he added, providing statistics on suicides among U.S. military soldiers.

Mr. Featherston said that the well-being of soldiers was being put at risk by the vagueness of the mission and its apparent lack of advanced planning.

“I believe we should be on the border, but you’ve got to give them a purpose,” Mr. Featherston said. “A lot of people think this is a publicity stunt. Why all of a sudden the big push?”

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