Louisiana National Guard engineers to deploy to Texas southern border until November

BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Gov. Jeff Landry announced Monday, July 1 that Operation Lone Star will be extended after Texas requested engineer soldiers.

According to a news release, the Louisiana National Guard will remain in Texas until mid-November when the final group of soldiers comes back to Louisiana.

Fifty Louisiana National Guard soldiers were first sent to Texas back in March to help aid the state in the U.S.-Mexico border crisis. Soldiers were mobilized after approval from Landry and a total of $3 million was approved to send soldiers. The approved money covered pay, allowances, transportation, lodging and meals.

According to the governor’s office, the Louisiana National Guard spent $2.2 million of the $3 million during the initial mission. Louisiana leaders said engineer soldiers will be sent to Texas with the remaining $800,000 that is available.

“Working with Texas, the Louisiana National Guard has developed a plan of sending engineers to Operation Lone Star, which would fulfill the request from the State of Texas with the remaining $800,000 from the initial allocation,” said Landry in a letter to Speaker Phillip DeVillier and Senate President Cameron Henry.

Read the full letter from Landry below.

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