Nebraska patrol officials defend mission to Mexican border
Source: Omaha World Herald
By GRANT SCHULTE
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Officials from the Nebraska State Patrol defended their state-funded mission to the U.S.-Mexican border on Thursday, arguing that they were answering a call for help from fellow law enforcement officers in Texas amid a surge in illegal border crossings.
Patrol officials described the situation in Del Rio, Texas, as a humanitarian crisis and said many locals welcomed them, despite criticism that the agency agreed not to seek repayment for the services it provided at Nebraska taxpayers’ expense. The last of the 25 troopers who were deployed are expected to return Friday.
“When our law enforcement partners ask for help, other agencies respond,” Col. John Bolduc, the patrol’s superintendent, said at a news conference with his boss, Gov. Pete Ricketts. “That’s what our team did here. Hopefully Nebraska is never in a situation where we need to make a similar request, but if we are, we know there will be others willing and able to step up and help out.”
Bolduc estimated the mission cost the state approximately $500,000 for trooper salaries, travel expenses and items such as greenish-tan uniforms that are standard in Texas. He said about $300,000 of those expenses are costs that the patrol would have incurred even without going on the mission, and the rest will come out of the patrol’s current budget if Nebraska never gets reimbursed.
FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2021, file photo, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts speaks during a news conference at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb. Officials from the Nebraska State Patrol defended their state-funded mission to the U.S.-Mexican border on Thursday, July 22, 2021, arguing that they were answering a call for help from fellow law enforcement officers in Texas amid a surge in illegal border crossings. Patrol officials described the situation in Del Rio, Texas, as a humanitarian crisis and said many locals welcomed them. (Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal Star via AP, File)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-government-and-politics-nebraska-7f37d368fb44007b0dfe40708305fe83
Editorial: Nebraskans shouldn't have to pay for political showboating on Texas border
So it turns out that Texas will not pay Nebraska for deploying our state troopers to the border with Mexico in response to Gov. Greg Abbott’s request.
The agreement, dated June 12, says so in all-capital letters. It’s hard to miss.
Yet when asked June 21 about who would cover the costs, state patrol spokesman Cody Thomas intimated that Texas would reimburse Nebraska under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. He outlined how Nebraska was paid for helping in North Dakota during Keystone XL pipeline protests and described the process as routine.
“The funding aspect of the deployment has not been finalized, however, NSP has been reimbursed for previous EMAC responses, such as in North Dakota and Minnesota,” Thomas wrote in an email to The World-Herald’s Sara Gentzler.
FULL editorial here: https://omaha.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-nebraskans-shouldnt-have-to-pay-for-political-showboating-on-texas-border/article_6ff1b9b2-e8ca-11eb-ab23-6732d836118e.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
and the silver lining here is that even the dullest of minds can recognize it as such. It wasn't even good political theater.
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