Youngkin Accused Of 'Political Stunt' With National Guard Deployment

VIRGINIA — Two congressmen from Northern Virginia are calling on Gov. Glenn Youngkin to end Virginia's participation in Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's border patrols, describing the operation as "inhumane" and "ineffective."

Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-11th) and Don Beyer (D-8th) said in a letter to Youngkin on Tuesday that Virginia will spend an estimated $3.1 million in taxpayer money for this "ineffective political stunt."

On May 31, Youngkin issued Executive Directive Four, deploying 100 Virginia National Guard soldiers and airmen and 21 support personnel to secure the U.S. border with Mexico through Operation Lone Star. Youngkin joined Republican governors from 12 other states, who also agreed to participate in the operation.

Youngkin said he chose to send the Virginia National Guard to help combat the illegal flow of fentanyl and other drugs from crossing the border from Mexico into Texas and then getting transported to Virginia. The effort is also meant to curb human trafficking and "address the ongoing humanitarian crisis at the southern border of the United States," Youngkin said.

Operation Lone Star began in the spring of 2021 when Abbott sent thousands of Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to the border, followed by thousands more members of the Texas National Guard.

In their letter, Connolly and Beyer said the Youngkin administration "has justified the deployment as an effort to improve fentanyl interdiction capacity, yet there is no indication that this deployment will meaningfully curb the transshipment of fentanyl into the Commonwealth."

Almost 90 percent of all fentanyl enters the U.S. through legal ports of entry rather than through unauthorized crossings, and often in the possession of U.S. citizens, not migrants, the congressmen said.

Last month, Abbott's office released statistics that said Operation Lone Star has led to more than 390,000 apprehensions and more than 30,000 criminal arrests over the past two years, with more than 28,000 felony charges reported.

But Connolly and Beyer countered that reports show the Texas Department of Public Safety is manipulating the data to misrepresent Operation Lone Star’s success.

"Governor Abbott, DPS, and the Texas Military Department have also fought two dozen public records requests from news organizations seeking an accurate account of the operation’s accomplishments," they wrote in their letter. "That means Virginia will spend $3.1 million in taxpayer funding for this ineffective political stunt, an exorbitant amount justified with manipulated information."

As for the tactics used on the border, allegations include troopers being told to push migrants back into the Rio Grande River and denying migrants water.

"As a matter of policy, officers patrolling the border at Gov. Abbott’s direction were ordered to treat migrants in an egregiously inhumane manner," the congressmen wrote. "A recent report revealed that officers involved in Operation Lone Star were ordered to push migrants, among them young children, back into the Rio Grande River."

Last week, Youngkin traveled to the U.S. border with Mexico in Texas to visit Virginia National Guard soldiers and airmen and to express his gratitude for helping with Operation Lone Star.

"An open border is enabling the destruction of lives by the blight of illicit drugs and human trafficking. With an average of five Virginians dying a day from fentanyl overdoses, we have to go to work at the source," Youngkin said in a statement.

In their letter to Youngkin, Connolly and Beyer wrote, "Our Commonwealth values human life and dignity, and our National Guard troops make a great sacrifice to serve our public and reflect our values."

"We respectfully urge you to bring them home and end Virginia’s involvement in Operation Lone Star," they said.