Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds defends $2 million deployment to southern border

Gov. Kim Reynolds vigorously defended Iowa's $2 million deployment to the southern border on Wednesday, criticizing the way President Joe Biden has approached border policies and emphasizing the harms that drug trafficking poses to Iowans.

“For more than two years, Texas has been ground zero for the national security and humanitarian crisis that we see taking place on the southern border," Reynolds said at a Wednesday news conference. "As governor, I have a responsibility to protect the safety and well-being of Iowans. And protecting them at home starts with protecting the southern border.”

Reynolds, a Republican, sent 109 National Guard soldiers to Texas from Aug. 2 to Sept. 1. Thirty-one state patrol officers and agents followed, deploying from Aug. 31 to Oct. 2.

Reynolds and officials with the Iowa Department of Public Safety and Iowa National Guard gave a briefing Wednesday on the two-month deployment, which was funded using federal COVID-19 relief money.

Here's what we know about the mission, and why Reynolds and other state officials say it was necessary.

What did the Iowa troops and officers do at the southern border?

In May, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott asked his fellow governors to send reinforcements to help state law enforcement at the border.

Iowa's National Guard soldiers partnered with the Texas National Guard to monitor illegal crossing points and to apprehend individuals who entered the country illegally.

“Our soldiers assisted and supported with the apprehension by (Customs and Border Patrol) of approximately 1,700 illegal immigrants, the surrender of roughly 1,200 immigrants to CBP, the arrest of two individuals with outstanding U.S. warrants, and a large number of migrants who were turned back at the Mexico border at illegal crossing zones," said Major General Stephen Osborn, Adjutant General of the Iowa National Guard.

The Iowa State Patrol troopers and agents paired up with the Texas Department of Public Safety to do regular patrol routes and to investigate smuggling attempts.

According to a news release from the governor's office, the Iowa Department of Public Safety officers were "directly involved in 40 human smuggling cases, 11 drug trafficking cases, 14 narcotics arrests, 6 weapons arrests, 42 vehicle pursuits, 35 vehicle bail outs, 11 stolen vehicle recoveries, and 491 illegal migrants were turned over to Customs and Border Patrol."

This wasn't the first time Iowa personnel went to Texas.

In 2021, Reynolds deployed about 28 Iowa State Patrol troopers to the border for 14 days in the Del Rio area in southwest Texas, where they accompanied Texas law enforcement on patrols, assisted with humanitarian efforts, helped disrupt criminal networks and investigated human smuggling, officials said at the time.

How much did Iowa's southern border mission cost?

Iowa used nearly $2 million of federal funds for its most recent border mission.

“Iowa’s mission to support Operation Lone Star cost a combined total of approximately $1.93 million, but not a penny will be paid by the state," Reynolds said. "Instead, it will be paid using federal funds allocated to Iowa through the American Rescue Plan."

The American Rescue Plan is a COVID-19 relief package that Biden signed into law in 2021 and that Republicans uniformly opposed. The law gave billions of federal funds to states as they recovered from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Since the president and his administration have refused to rescue America’s borders, we’ve done our part on their behalf," Reynolds quipped.

Why did Gov. Kim Reynolds send a mission to the border?

Reynolds argued that Iowa is especially at risk for drug trafficking from Mexico.

“Iowa’s location at the intersection of two major interstates provides human traffickers and drug cartels a direct route from Mexico to the Midwest," Reynolds said. "And from 2020 to 2022, Iowa has seen a 500% increase in fentanyl seizures, a 100% increase in meth seizures, and we have seen drug-related deaths increase by 35%. We have seen unprecedented levels of fentanyl, meth and cocaine now exist in our region’s drug supply, and it’s putting Iowans at risk.”

It is unclear exactly how many of those Iowa drug seizures and overdose deaths can be linked to drugs smuggled across the southern border.

Iowa Department of Public Safety Commissioner Stephan Bayens presented Iowa's drug seizure totals from March to May 2023. Iowa law enforcement officers seized 335 pounds of meth, 15,350 fentanyl pills, three pounds of heroin, 136 grams of crack cocaine, 72 pounds of cocaine and 80 pounds of marijuana.

Bayens said officers uncovered seven cases within that 90-day window that had "a direct evidentiary link to the Mexican cartels." He said Iowa law enforcement started tracking the number of cases tied to the southern border in 2019. According to Bayens, the number of Iowa cases tied to the southern border have "spiked" since 2021.

Reynolds also made a broader argument that illegal immigrants to the U.S. could be a national security threat.

"When you see the number of terrorists that they've apprehended that are crossing our borders? My god. Think of the ones that have gotten by us, that they didn't apprehend," she said.

According to NBC News, 160 migrants who were on the FBI's terrorist watchlist were apprehended at the southern border in fiscal year 2023, which ended in July.

Most fentanyl enters the U.S. through legal ports of entry

Illegal immigration and drug trafficking are often conflated, but most fentanyl isn't being brought into the country by migrants crossing between entry points.

The Drug Enforcement Agency reported in 2020 that Mexican criminal organizations most commonly concealed drugs in vehicles and trucks that enter the United States through legal ports of entry. NPR reported in August that close to 90% of fentanyl is seized at legal ports of entry, and nearly all of those smugglers are individuals who are authorized to enter the country.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in February that it is "unequivocally false that fentanyl is being brought to the United States by non-citizens encountered in between the ports of entry who are making claims of credible fear and seeking asylum," CBS reports.

And fentanyl has been on the rise for years: According to CBS News, fentanyl seizures at U.S. legal ports of entry quadrupled in 2019 and 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic made it much harder to travel internationally and more potent, easily-concealable drugs — like fentanyl — became preferable for traffickers.

Stephen Gruber-Miller contributed reporting.

Katie Akin is a politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @katie_akin.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Gov. Reynolds cites drugs, terrorism as reasons for border mission