Lombardo won’t send National Guard troops to southern border

Gov. Joe Lombardo supports Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s border fight with the Biden administration, but he won’t join Republican governors from more than a dozen states and send Nevada National Guard troops to the Lone Star State.

Elizabeth Ray, a spokesperson from the governor’s office, said in an email Monday that Lombardo is not considering sending troops to Texas just days after he signed onto a letter supporting Abbott’s continued use of razor wire along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The letter, which was signed by 25 Republican governors and released Thursday, throws support behind the Texas governor after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of federal agents’ power to remove wire that had been put in place along Texas’ border with Mexico at Abbott’s direction.

“President Biden and his Administration have left Americans and our country completely vulnerable to unprecedented illegal immigration pouring across the Southern border,” the letter reads.

However, Lombardo previously said he wouldn’t send Nevada National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to assist with border security during a debate with other Republican candidates for governor in May 2022 broadcast by KLAS-TV, Channel 8.

Citing his experience in law enforcement, Lombardo said during the debate that such an operation would have an excessive cost and would prevent the troops from defending the state in the case of a crisis.

In a statement posted to X, Lombardo said Nevada nevertheless stands with Texas and Abbott.

“The Biden Administration has failed to defend the border, and Texas has a constitutional right to self-defense,” Lombardo said.

Abbott launched Operation Lone Star to increase security along the Texas-Mexico border in 2021. Republican governors from more than a dozen states, including Florida, South Dakota and Arkansas, sent state National Guard troops to the border to assist in the operation. At its peak, the operation had 10,000 National Guard personnel.

Abbott has said he will continue to direct the Texas National Guard to install razor wire at the border, arguing in a post on X that the wire is “an effective deterrent against the illegal border crossings encouraged by Biden’s open border policies.”

Contact Taylor R. Avery at TAvery@reviewjournal.com. Follow @travery98 on X.