Gov. Reynolds joins other governors in push for tighter border security

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) - Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds called on President Joe Biden to secure the southern border during a visit with four other governors in Texas on Monday.

The meeting, hosted by Texas Governor Greg Abbot, brought Reynolds and the governors from Nebraska, Oklahoma and South Dakota to tour the border and talk about security.

It comes after Reynolds deployed more than 100 National Guard soldiers to the border in Texas this month at the request of Gov. Abbott to help prevent illegal crossings and the flow of deadly drugs into the country.

She’s also sending Department of Public Safety personnel in September, and she sent Iowa State Patrol officers in June 2021.

“The fact that the States are protecting the southern border is an assault on the Constitution and the American people,” Reynolds said during a news conference. “And it is time for this president to step up, way past time, and do his job.”

Gov. Abbott said 15 Republican governors have deployed personnel to the border, and that President Biden isn’t doing his job, and the consequences have been deadly.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem described the border as a “warzone” and called Biden’s policies “inhumane.”

“We absolutely have to show people that there’s a different choice,” Noem said. “And it literally is just enforcing the laws that we already have. We’ve heard our border patrol talk about this, we’ve heard our national guard talk about this. We don’t need more laws. We just need the president to respect the laws that we already have.”

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt called for policy change.

“You don’t have a brain if you don’t think we need to secure our border, the terror is coming through all the things my fellow governors have said about the crime that’s coming through and the cartels that are using this and exploiting people, it’s got to stop,” he said.

CNN reports the governors met with members of the National Guard and got a first-hand view of the buoys Texas put in the Rio Grande to deter migrants from crossing into the country from Mexico.

The Justice Department sued the state of Texas to have the floating barrier removed, claiming it poses a humanitarian and environmental risk. The state did move the barrier closer to American soil ahead of a hearing on Tuesday that will decide the fate of the barrier.

“Let me be clear: We are fully authorized by the Constitution of the United States of America to do exactly what we are doing, and that is to secure the border,” Abbott said.

WOWT, CNN, AP and Dakota News Now contributed to this story.

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