By PAUL HAMMEL
Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN — Gov. Pete Ricketts took an unannounced visit to the Southern U.S. border on Friday to thank Nebraska National Guard personnel deployed there and to criticize “failed” current border policy.
“I saw firsthand that you are undermanned and under-resourced,” Ricketts said in a press release Monday. “America urgently needs to change course at the national level to fix this ongoing emergency.”
Jane Kleeb, the executive director of the Nebraska Democratic Party, called the trip a “political stunt.”
“The ag industry relies on immigrants and yet Ricketts is doing what Republicans do best these days — a political stunt,” Kleeb said.
The Guard members are providing mission-enhancing support to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection security operations.
Nebraska’s 376th Aviation Battalion, a helicopter unit based in Grand Island, has been assisting border patrols since at least June by providing aviation support. The mission is under the direction of U.S. Northern Command and Joint Task Force North.
Past deployments to the U.S. border have been paid for by the federal government. But officials with the Governor’s Office and the Nebraska National Guard did not immediately return messages Monday afternoon seeking to confirm if that was the case this time.
Ricketts, according to a press release, thanked the Guard personnel for helping federal officials with a “historic surge of illegal crossings.”
“By strengthening border enforcement, you’re helping to keep dangerous drugs like meth and fentanyl off of our streets,” he said.
Ricketts also met with U.S. Customs and Border Protection leaders to discuss their mission and the challenges they face.
The unannounced trip to the border was third such trip in the past three months that were not included on the governor’s weekly public schedule.
In September, he visited possible sites of the proposed Perkins County Canal in southwest Nebraska, and in August, he traveled to the Middle East to thank Nebraska National Guard troops deployed there.
Republicans, in the run-up to the midterm elections in November, have stepped up criticism of the Biden administration’s border policies, maintaining they are a major policy failure.