INDIANAPOLIS — Members of Indiana's National Guard are getting ready to head to the southwest Texas border with Mexico in the next few days.
Their families, along with Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, celebrated them Thursday morning at a departure ceremony at Camp Atterbury.
After a trip to the border in February, Holcomb announced last month he intended to send Indiana National Guard troops down to Texas at the request of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who asked for help with Operation Lone Star.
That's Abbott's strategy to control undocumented migrants from crossing into Texas from Mexico.
Three hundred Indiana National Guardsmen and women said they were willing to go. Fifty were selected.
Thursday, Holcomb thanked the soldiers and airmen for their service, telling them to look out for each other and come back soon.
"I just can't say it enough, how appreciative we are. How much we value what you're doing," Holcomb told the troops gathered, along with their families.
"We have a pretty straight forward mission. We're just extra sensors on the ground," said 26-year-old Sgt. Christopher Estrada from Peru, Indiana.
Members of Indiana's National Guard, like Estrada, won't have the power to arrest anyone crossing the border illegally. Instead, their role will be to watch and report what they see to the Texas National Guard and Department of Public Safety, who will take it from there.
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Part what Indiana's troops will be doing could involve looking out for illegal drugs, like fentanyl, that someone trying to cross the border illegally may have on them.
"The mission for us is curb the fentanyl epidemic," said Sgt. Daniel Cook.
According to the US Customs and Border Protection website, 310 pounds of fentanyl have been seized at the southwest Texas border from Oct. 1 of last year through this past February, with more than 100 pounds seized just last month.
Holcomb said some of the drugs getting into the United States are finding their way into towns across the country, including those in Indiana.
"There is a correlation between the fentanyl that's making its way across the southern border and the overdose deaths that are occurring in Indiana," Holcomb said.
The soldiers and airmen headed to Texas said part of their mission will be to try and prevent that.
"If we can slow it down, the more we slow it down the better," said Cook.
Holcomb's decision to send troops from Indiana came just days after a bipartisan bill to address border security died in the U.S. Senate.
Indiana Democrats have accused the governor of playing politics.
"It's not a political statement. This is about saving lives, ultimately. And I'm not exaggerating. We don't just report overdose and deaths statistics just to measure them. This is a reflection of what we have to deal with locally as a state and as nation," Holcomb said.
The 50 Indiana National Guard members are expected to be in Texas for the next 10 months, with plans to have them return home by Christmas.
According to the Indiana National Guard, the mission is costing the state just over $7 million.