Will Laura Kelly send Kansas National Guard to Texas after lawmakers overrode $15.7M veto?

While lawmakers overrode Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of funding for the Kansas National Guard to go to Texas, the governor isn't required to comply with the wishes of legislators.

The Republican-led Legislature on Monday overrode Kelly's line-item budget veto of $15.7 million for a southwest border mission.

That appropriation in Senate Bill 28 was to cover the cost of sending the Kansas National Guard to Texas "to assist with the prevention of crime drug trafficking, human trafficking, transactional criminal organizations and other related crimes contributing to an emergency."

Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, stressed that Kansas is "not sending money, we're sending men" to protect the country from fentanyl, sex trafficking and what he called "not much short of an invasion."

In her veto message, Kelly reminded lawmakers that the governor is commander in chief of the Kansas National Guard.

"It is my constitutional authority to direct the National Guard while on state duty," Kelly said. "It is not the Legislature's role to direct the operations or call out the National Guard."

Republicans want Kansas to join other states in helping the Texas National Guard with Operation Lone Star. That border security initiative is a response by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to large amounts of migrants, most of whom are seeking asylum, gathering near the U.S. border with Mexico.

Operation Lone Star has now gone on for four years at a cost of $11 billion to Texas taxpayers, and the state has been locked in ongoing legal battles with President Joe Biden's administration. USA TODAY Network newspapers have reported that National Guard troops have patrolled the border and soldiers have placed concertina wire barriers in an effort to keep migrants from illegally entering the country.

Rep. Stephen Owens, R-Hesston, acknowledged in comments to the House GOP caucus that lawmakers couldn't mandate that the governor send troops to Texas.

"It is still 100% her authority," Owens said.

"We could go on for days talking about how porous our southern border is, all the fentanyl coming across, the human trafficking and the list goes on," he said. "We know there's an issue there. This simply authorizes the funds to these things in the event that the governor chooses to work with the governor in Texas."

Critics emphasized that the funding would be meaningless without a governor willing to implement it, calling it a political stunt during an election year where the border is a top priority for some voters.

"This is to me all about a political stunt and is all about messaging," said Ethan Corson, D-Prairie Village. "Because it does not change that fact that as much as the Senate president, as much as the speaker of the House might want to be the commander-in-chief of the National Guard, the fact is they are not under the Kansas Constitution, so all we're going to do is walk ourselves right into the middle of a lawsuit."

Kelly said, "Border security is a federal issue," and called on Congress to "work in a bipartisan manner to fix our nation's broken immigration system."

"Despite this being a federal issue, I have repeatedly deployed members of the Kansas National Guard to support the federal government's efforts to strengthen border protections, including an active deployment today," Kelly said. "When a Governor deploys soldiers as part of a federal mission, it is done intentionally and in a manner that ensures we are able to protect our communities and that we do not threaten Guard readiness or limit our ability to respond to natural disasters at home."

In a statement after the vote, Masterson said a recent trip to the border showed him that the Texas state government has been more effective than the federal government at stopping immigrants from entering the country illegally. Kansas can assist those efforts by providing more boots on the ground, he said.

"Now," he said, "it is up to the governor to stop making excuses and come to the aid of our citizens by sending the Kansas National Guard to the Texas border and in doing so, help stem the flow of the devastating consequences associated with the Biden Administration's failures."

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas legislators want Laura Kelly to send National Guard to Texas