Can the National Guard be deployed for partisan political missions?

To Joe from Kristi and friends

Kristi Noem has made the national headlines again by one of her stunts as she purports to be a governor.  The governor of Texas put out a call for law enforcement help along the Mexican border, and Noem-skull answered it by deploying 50 South Dakota National Guard members to go to Texas.

Just what law enforcement roles the guard will or can serve is unclear, but Noem was very clear about her purpose for sending them.  She is sending them to give Joe Biden a fifty-man middle-finger salute.  Her announcement stated: 

“The Biden Administration has failed in the most basic duty of the federal government: keeping the American people safe.The border is a national security crisis that requires the kind of sustained response only the National Guard can provide.  We should not be making our own communities less safe by sending our police or Highway Patrol to fix a long-term problem President Biden’s Administration seems unable or unwilling to solve.  My message to Texas is this: help is on the way.” 

The emphasis on the political motive for deploying is undergirded by the fact that the deployment is being paid for by a billionaire Trump supporter who called Biden an idiot.  

The ostensible law covering the deployment is the National Guard Mutual Assistance Compact  which permits and sets the terms for deployment among the states.  However, the forthright statement of purpose by Noem and billionaire Willis Johnson raises the question of whether the Guard can be deployed for a clearly partisan political purpose.  And may the Guard act as civilian law enforcement agents?  

A statement by an officer for the Illinois Guard poses the issue:

We’re not civilian law enforcement. And so we can’t really be used as an auxiliary police force. And we legally cannot make arrests. We can hold somebody for a bit until a fully licensed civilian police officer can come in and arrest that person. But if we’re detaining someone, that should be for a very short period of time. We’re not trained to investigate crimes. We’re really not trained in community policing.

The announcement from the Governor's office is printed below.

June 29, 2021

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem announced that up to fifty South Dakota National Guard troops are being deployed to Texas to help the secure the border between the United States and Mexico. This is in response to Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s request for help to respond to ongoing violations of state and federal law by illegal aliens crossing the unsecured border.

 

“The Biden Administration has failed in the most basic duty of the federal government: keeping the American people safe,” said Governor Kristi Noem. “The border is a national security crisis that requires the kind of sustained response only the National Guard can provide.  We should not be making our own communities less safe by sending our police or Highway Patrol to fix a long-term problem President Biden’s Administration seems unable or unwilling to solve.  My message to Texas is this: help is on the way.” 

 

The initial deployment to the border will last for between 30 and 60 days. South Dakota Adjutant General Jeff Marlette and the South Dakota Department of the Military are working with their counterparts in Texas to finalize the details of this mission. The deployment will be paid for by a private donation.

 

For operational security reasons, specific names of units, number of members, and mission specifics will not be released.