Family members of some of those service members have received $500,000 in compensation thanks to a recently authorized state death benefit, but several others were denied or have their claim remaining under review, according to Shelia Bailey Taylor, the Texas Military Department director of state administration, who revealed the death toll on Aug. 20.

The troops served on Operation Lone Star, a mission consisting of Texas Guard members and other state law enforcement officials that Governor Greg Abbott said was enacted to stop drugs and or people from entering into Texas across the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization.

In July, Border Patrol recorded just over 56,400 encounters between ports of entry along the southwest border, the lowest monthly total since September 2020, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That followed an announcement in June by President Joe Biden that temporarily suspended the entry of certain noncitizens across the southern border.

Thanks to the Bishop Evans Act, families of Texas National Guardsmen who die “in connection with operations initiated to address criminal activity in the border region” may now be eligible for financial compensation. The law is named after a Texas National Guard member who died in 2022 while trying to save two migrants, The Texas Tribune and Army Times previously reported.

Others who died for a variety of reasons while serving on Operation Lone Star include a Guardsmen who suffered a medical emergency at his unit’s hotel, at least two others who were killed in accidental shootings as well as at least four others who died by suicide.

Between March 6, 2021 — the date Operation Lone Star launched — and Sept. 1, 2023, there were 10 claims submitted to receive a one-time lump sum payment of half a million dollars following the death of a service member, Taylor said. Of those, four of those claims met eligibility requirements, but only three were paid out, as the fourth did not have surviving dependents, she said. The other six claims were denied, she added.

Taylor said another seven claims were submitted for deaths that occurred during state active duty after Sept. 1, 2023. Six of those deaths remain under review, she said, though one investigation recently concluded and determined the death was during state active duty orders.

Seven of the claims were also separately submitted for additional worker’s compensation death benefits, though six have been denied as they were considered to not be “on the job” injuries within the course and scope of employment, she said.

Texas state Rep. Ray Lopez, D-San Antonio, the vice chair of the Defense & Veterans’ Affairs Committee, encouraged Taylor and other officials at the meeting to speak up if gaps or other issues need to be addressed with the implementation of the new law.

“We know that it is a good attempt. Its intent is certainly perfect in the sense that we want to put legislation out there that is helpful to those folks that we’re serving. But we know that it isn’t,” he said.

The Texas Military Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Military Times.

Two weeks into their mission in Eagle Pass, Texas, New Hampshire National Guard soldiers said they are seeing more attempts to cross the border illegally than expected. That’s true even for those who’ve been deployed to the border before.

“This mission differs immensely in terrain, number of integral breaches in our barriers, as well as the difficulty of operation effectiveness,” said Sgt. Connor Decker in an email. “The way cartel runners or illegal immigrants alone breach through secure border are evolving and cannot be so easily solved with a static solution.”

The Bulletin communicated via email last week with four of the 15 soldiers Gov. Chris Sununu deployed earlier this month to assist the Texas National Guard in securing the border. It’s a state-paid $850,000 trip unlike the prior deployments, which were federally ordered and funded.

New Hampshire is paying the Texas National Guard $200 a day per soldier for room and board as well as other base expenses. The state funding will also cover salary and benefits.

In asking lawmakers to approve his funding request in February, Sununu said he believes all states should send troops to help Texas stop the illegal crossings by undocumented migrants and the smuggling of fentanyl, the drug responsible for the most drug overdose deaths in New Hampshire in 2022, according to a state medical examiner’s report.

Though, U.S. Sentencing Commission data showed that Americans account for a huge percentage of fentanyl trafficking convictions. In 2022, it was 90 percent.

Some Republican governors have sent fewer soldiers — Montana deployed 10 this month — while others have sent more, such as Iowa, which deployed 100 in early April.

The New Hampshire soldiers, all of whom volunteered to go to Texas, are working in teams of three or four, alongside soldiers from the Texas National Guard and Louisiana National Guard. They are working 10-hour night shifts, and while they are with a military police unit in New Hampshire, they are not arresting or detaining individuals, said Greg Heilshorn, spokesman for the New Hampshire National Guard.

He described this as an “eyes and ears” deployment in support of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star. The soldiers are watching for illegal crossings at observation posts and roving patrols, looking for breaches in the fence. They are scheduled to return in June.

Pfc. Macenzi Connors is serving her first deployment to the southern border and is one of three women who volunteered. She said the partnership with Texas has been rewarding.

“Knowing that I get to help out a fellow state to deter illegal immigrants and report … any suspicious activity that we see is a good feeling on its own,” she said in an email. “So far, it has been a lot busier than we thought, but working as a team and knowing that the people I came down with will always have my back makes being down here a lot easier.”

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, federal law enforcement is reporting fewer encounters in the Del Rio sector, which includes Eagle Pass, each month since December, when it spiked to 71,048. In April, the agency reported 11,281 encounters.

Spc. Carson Geha is also serving his first mission. Even with the drop in the number of encounters, he too has been surprised by the number of cartel “runners” cutting the fence to cross illegally. “Working side by side with the Texas National Guard has brought a sense of teamwork in order to deter illegal immigrants and keep our border secure.”

Spc. Connor Sills spent about a year at the southern border as part of last year’s federal deployment. He told the Bulletin he volunteered to return to help the soldiers who haven’t been through the experience. In an email last week, Sills said the Texas soldiers are doing the same. He has spent his nights roving the fence line, separating the Rio Grande from Texas.

New Hampshire Bulletin is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Hampshire Bulletin maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Dana Wormald for questions: info@newhampshirebulletin.com. Follow New Hampshire Bulletin on Facebook and Twitter.

The flight from Fort Bliss, an Army base in El Paso, was scheduled to take about seven hours, nearly twice as long as a direct route, because the military plane could not fly over Mexico, said U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Orlando Marrero. Eight children were aboard.

“The message that we have for those people is that if you cross the border illegally, we are going to deport you to your country of origin in a matter of hours,” Marrero said.

The Trump administration has used military aircraft to deport people to Guatemala, Ecuador and Colombia, a departure from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s previous practice to employ charter and commercial planes.

“There are some countries that don’t like military planes coming into their territory,” said U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat who represents a Texas border district. “It’s something that logistically has to be worked out with the country before, because you don’t want to have a plane turned around in midair.”

On Sunday, Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro refused two U.S. military planes with migrants, prompting Trump to announce 25% tariffs on Colombian exports. Colombia backed off and said it would accept the migrants but fly them on Colombian military flights that Petro said would guarantee them dignity.

The Pentagon began deploying active-duty troops to the border last week, but it was unclear to what extent they will break from supporting roles they have played under presidents since George W. Bush, including ground and aerial surveillance, building barriers and repairing vehicles.

An 1878 law prohibits military involvement in civilian law enforcement, but Trump and his aides have signaled the president may invoke wartime powers. Trump said in his Inauguration Day order declaring a border emergency that the Defense Department may assist with detention and transportation, two enormous cost-drivers.

Trump on Thursday ordered that a U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be used to detain migrants, saying it could hold up to 30,000 people. That would nearly double ICE’s current detention capacity.

Yael Schacher, director for the Americas and Europe at Refugees International, said using military aircraft for deportations was uncommon but “largely symbolic.”

The confusing arc of events began as the FAA announced it was shutting down all flight traffic over the city on the U.S.-Mexico border for 10 days, stranding some travelers, but the closure ended up only lasting a few hours. The Trump administration said it stemmed from the FAA and Pentagon working to halt an incursion by Mexican cartel drones, which are not uncommon along the southern border.

One of the people said the laser was deployed near Fort Bliss without coordinating with the FAA, which decided then to close the airspace to ensure commercial air safety. Others familiar with the matter said the technology was used despite a meeting scheduled for later this month between the Pentagon and the FAA to discuss the issue.

While the restrictions were short-lived in the city of nearly 700,000 people, it is unusual for an entire airport to shut down even for a short time. Stranded travelers with luggage lined up at airline ticket counters and car rental desks before the order was lifted.

Normal flights resumed after seven arrivals and seven departures were canceled. Some medical evacuation flights also had to be rerouted.

Jorge Rueda, 20, and Yamilexi Meza, 21, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, had their morning flight to Portland, Oregon, canceled, so they were losing part of their Valentine’s Day weekend trip.

Rueda said he was glad that “10 days turned into two hours.” They were booked on an evening flight out of El Paso.

A troubling lack of coordination

The investigation into last year’s midair collision near Washington, D.C., between an airliner and Army helicopter that killed 67 people highlighted how the FAA and Pentagon have not always worked well together.

The National Transportation Safety Board said the FAA and the Army did not share safety data with each other about the alarming number of close calls around Reagan National Airport and failed to address the risks.

Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, a former Army helicopter pilot who serves on committees focused on aviation and the armed services, said the issue Wednesday was the latest example of “the lack of coordination that’s endemic in this Trump administration.”

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said he would request a briefing from the FAA on the incident.

Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat whose district includes El Paso, said neither her office nor local officials received any advance notice of the closure. After it was lifted, she said “the information coming from the federal government does not add up.”

“I believe the FAA owes the community and the country an explanation as to why this happened so suddenly and abruptly and was lifted so suddenly and abruptly,” Escobar said at a news conference.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said earlier that the airspace was closed as the Defense Department and the FAA halted an incursion by Mexican cartel drones and “the threat has been neutralized.”

Officials at the Department of Homeland Security, FAA and Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A Trump administration official insisted the agencies were in lockstep to protect national security and pointed to Duffy’s statement. The Pentagon said it had nothing to add to its statement that largely mirrored Duffy’s.

Cross-border drone activity is not new

Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose congressional district covers an area that stretches about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) along Texas’ border with Mexico, said cartel drone sightings are common.

“For any of us who live and work along the border, daily drone incursions by criminal organizations is everyday life for us. It’s a Wednesday for us,” Gonzales said.

Steven Willoughby, deputy director of the counter-drone program at the Department of Homeland Security, told Congress in July that cartels are using drones nearly every day to transport drugs across the border and surveil Border Patrol agents. More than 27,000 drones were detected within 500 meters (1,600 feet) of the southern border in the last six months of 2024, he said, mostly at night.

What is “extremely rare” is the closure of an entire airport over a security issue, according to a former chief security officer at United Airlines.

Officials usually will try to take security measures to isolate the risk if a specific plane or airline is threatened rather than shut down the airport, said Rich Davis, now a senior security adviser at risk mitigation company International SOS.

Mexican officials question the explanation

Asked about the drone explanation provided by U.S. officials, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she had “no information about the use of drones on the border.” She noted that if U.S. authorities have more information, they should contact Mexico’s government.

Mexican defense and navy secretaries planned to talk with officials from U.S. Northern Command in a meeting Wednesday in Washington attended by several other countries, Sheinbaum told reporters. Sheinbaum said the Mexican officials would “listen” in the meeting and her government would look into “the exact causes” of the closure.

El Paso is a hub of cross-border commerce alongside Ciudad Juárez. That Mexican city is home to about 1.5 million people, and some of its residents are accustomed to taking advantage of facilities, including airports, on the U.S. side of the border.

That easy access to the United States also has made Juarez, like other border cities, attractive to Mexico’s drug cartels seeking to safeguard their smuggling routes for drugs and migrants headed north and cash and guns moving to the south.

‘This was a major and unnecessary disruption’

El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson told reporters that he did not hear about the closure until after the alert was issued.

“Decisions made without notice and coordination puts lives at risk and creates unnecessary danger and confusion,” Johnson said. “This was a major and unnecessary disruption, one that has not occurred since 9/11.”

The airport describes itself as the gateway to west Texas, southern New Mexico and northern Mexico. Southwest, United, American and Delta are among the carriers that operate flights there.

A similar 10-day temporary flight restriction for special security reasons remained in place Wednesday around Santa Teresa, New Mexico, which is about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of the El Paso airport. FAA officials did not immediately explain why that restriction remained.

Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, a New Mexico Democrat, said in a statement that he was seeking answers from the FAA and the Trump administration “about why the airspace was closed in the first place without notifying appropriate officials, leaving travelers to deal with unnecessary chaos.”

Confusion for travelers

Travel plans on both sides of the border were disrupted.

María Aracelia was pushing two roller suitcases across the pedestrian bridge from Ciudad Juarez to El Paso on Wednesday morning. She had a round-trip flight to Illinois scheduled for the afternoon.

After receiving a text at 4 a.m. telling her about the 10-day closure, she scrambled to try to find other options, even how to get to another airport. Then came a notification that the El Paso airport had reopened.

“This is stressful, and there isn’t time to make so many changes, especially if you need to get back for work,” Aracelia said.

New Hampshire National Guard Lt. Ryan Camp looked through the border fence separating Texas and Mexico, and made a mental note of the pickup truck crawling back and forth along the bank of the Rio Grande. He logged the man fishing and the person he could hear but not see walking through the brush below the fence.

Camp’s list of events can grow long by the end of a 10-hour shift.

That’s the kind of vigilance, he said, that left his unit prepared to spot a group of migrants crossing the river in darkness Wednesday night. Soldiers intercepted the foursome after they cut the fence and slipped under.

“You have to pay attention and be observant of what’s happening not only in front of you at the anti-climb barrier, but what’s happening in the river, and what’s happening on the opposite bank,” Camp said during a patrol last week. “Every encounter we have on the border is different, and we have to adapt every night to every scenario.”

Gov. Chris Sununu deployed 15 National Guard soldiers to Eagle Pass, Texas, in early April to help that state stop undocumented migrants and drugs from coming into the country illegally. The New Hampshire soldiers pair with Guard members from Texas and Louisiana, patrolling 1 1/2 miles of Texas’ 1,250-mile border overnight. Camp said they encounter about 50 migrants a night on average, a huge drop from the 5,000 who were arriving in December.

Their orders allow them to do three things: report suspicious or illegal activity to Texas authorities; direct migrants to a legal port of entry; and aid migrants only amid danger to their “life, limb, or eyes.”

They cannot arrest or detain migrants. They cannot even give them water.

Pfc. Dennis Harris, 42, of Freedom, was keeping watch from atop a Humvee last week.

“It’s more of a safety aspect both for the people that are trying to cross and for the people that are here in the States,” he said. “Because, yes, some people that are crossing are obviously family members but there’s also other individuals who are crossing that we probably don’t want living next door.”

Logistically and emotionally challenging

The soldiers’ mission, which will keep them in Texas until early June, is likely more logistically and emotionally complicated than it looks from afar. It can be frustrating, they said, to watch a situation unfold and be so limited in responding.

That includes waiting for a person to cut or climb over a fence before calling in Texas authorities and saying no to someone asking for water.

Some migrants ask the soldiers to admit them because they fear for their safety at home. Some appear with young children. They risk drowning in the Rio Grande to get that far. Some spend hours looking for a spot out of the soldiers’ sight to cut the fence and slip under. Last week a woman and two men slept two nights against the fence, asking the soldiers to let them in. Camp, who like the other New Hampshire soldiers does not speak Spanish, used Google Translate to communicate with them.

“She was saying that she would rather be imprisoned here than in Mexico and that Mexico was dangerous,” Camp, 26, of Brookfield, said.

Camp recounted a man approaching the fence carrying a toddler in his backpack, through coils of wire with sharp barbs that can quickly shred a pack.

Last week, a group of migrants found an opportunity to climb over the fence unnoticed and cleared a second fence about 200 yards away. To protect themselves against the sharp wire, they drape it with clothes or blankets. Sometimes they light the material on fire to melt the wire.

When troops noticed the migrants fleeing, Sgt. Timothy King, 26, of Fremont, said they responded the only way their orders allow them to: call authorities who have the power to take migrants into custody — if they find them.

“I’ve seen instances where (migrants) will sit in the brush for probably up to nine or 10 hours,” King said. “They are determined. They will just go out there and just take a nap and … wait until the search gets called off and they can get through.”

Soldiers from other states have seen individuals leave infants at the fence and return to Mexico, waiting to see if the authorities take the child into the United States. If they don’t, they swim across the river again and collect the child.

Guard members from another state saw a woman give birth at the fence. In that case, soldiers responded because the life of the mother and child were at risk.

“You do everything you can to make sure that if something goes wrong, you can save them,” Camp said. “But until then you have to do your job.”

He said those experiences take a toll on soldiers. The unit was given resources for mental health treatment when they arrived. Camp and another troop leader, Sgt. 1st Class Cameron Holt-Corti of North Berwick, Maine, watch their soldiers for signs they are struggling and help them seek treatment.

“Our job is simple to describe, but there is nothing simple about it,” Camp said.

According to media reports last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said 14 of its agents had died by suicide in 2022, the highest count in a single year since it began tracking suicides in 2007.

There are no days off

At the start of his 7 p.m. shift, Holt-Corti, 34, stepped aside, his cell phone to his ear. He was wishing his three children goodnight.

“You miss them, and it’s rough on them,” he said. “I’ve talked to them every day.”

Each of the 15 Guard members, whose ages range from 19 to 42, left something behind when they volunteered for this mission.

Harris, who also has children, works in construction. Holt-Corti is the director of safety at a welding company. Camp works at Sig Sauer’s testing range and looks after his parents. One soldier is trying to keep up with college courses.

“You have to make sure that you’re talking with your work, you’re talking to your professors,” Camp said. “One of the things that can be hard for people is the world doesn’t stop while you’re gone. So you’ll come back and things are different. And you end up playing catch up.”

They are staying an hour from Eagle Pass, in Base Camp Alpha, in Del Rio, a commute that stretches their 10-hour shift to 12 hours. They’ve got a gym and a chow hall that serves a lot of shrimp. They cannot have alcohol on or off duty. Some have to get around in a minivan because the car rental agency had nothing else.

Soldiers work three nights, followed by three days off. But “off” is a misnomer because they use those days to keep their service pistol in working order and keep up with training.

“That’s the Army as a whole,” Camp said. “When you have a day off, in reality, you don’t really have a day off. You have a calmer day.”

New Hampshire Bulletin is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Hampshire Bulletin maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Dana Wormald for questions: info@newhampshirebulletin.com. Follow New Hampshire Bulletin on Facebook and Twitter.

The order did not explain justices’ decisions. For now, it effectively upholds longstanding court rulings that the Constitution gives the federal government sole responsibility for border security.

In October of last year, Texas sued the federal government after Border Patrol agents cut some of the wire strung along the Rio Grande, arguing the Department of Homeland Security destroyed the state’s property and interfered in Texas’ border security efforts.

The 5-4 order from the Supreme Court vacated a previous injunction from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that prevented Border Patrol agents from cutting the concertina wire.

In recent weeks, Shelby Park in Eagle Pass has become the center of a standoff between Texas and the federal government over immigration enforcement. Most recently, Gov. Greg Abbott has ramped up border enforcement around the 47-acre park by surrounding the perimeter by the razor wire and limiting access to the city park.

“The Biden Administration has repeatedly cut wire that Texas installed to stop illegal crossings, opening the floodgates to illegal immigrants. The absence of razor wire and other deterrence strategies encourages migrants to make unsafe and illegal crossings between ports of entry, while making the job of Texas National Guard soldiers and DPS troopers more dangerous and difficult,” Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesperson for Abbott, said in a statement. “This case is ongoing, and Governor Abbott will continue fighting to defend Texas’ property and its constitutional authority to secure the border.”

Since 2021, Abbott’s Operation Lone Star initiative has created tension between the state and federal government. Under the operation, Abbott has deployed state troopers across the 1,200 mile Texas-Mexico border; ordered state police to arrest migrants who are suspected of trespassing; spent $11 million to install 70,000 rolls of concertina wire along the Rio Grande; and spent $1.5 billion on about a dozen miles of border walls.

As migrants have attempted to get through the wire, Border Patrol has cut through parts of the barrier to assist injured people. Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against DHS, claiming federal agents had illegally destroyed state property.

A U.S. district court judge based in Del Rio sided with the federal government, ruling that Border Patrol agents didn’t violate any laws by cutting the wire. Paxton’s office appealed, and a panel of judges from the 5th Circuit paused the ruling until the case went through the appeals process.

On Jan. 12, National Guard members blocked federal border agents from accessing the Rio Grande after three migrants drowned while crossing the river and two others were still struggling in the water, according to a court filing by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The state denied the federal agency’s version of events, arguing that Mexican officials had the situation under control in subsequent court filings.

On Monday, the Supreme Court vacated the 5th Circuit’s order after the Biden administration sent a cease and desist letter to Paxton for blocking federal access to the border. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberal justices in issuing the order.

“The Supreme Court’s temporary order allows Biden to continue his illegal effort to aid the foreign invasion of America,” Paxton said in a statement. “The destruction of Texas’ border barriers will not help enforce the law or keep American citizens safe. This fight is not over, and I look forward to defending our state’s sovereignty.”

Immigration rights groups have criticized Texas officials’ use of the term “invasion” for potentially inciting violence against Hispanic people.

In a separate lawsuit, President Joe Biden sued Texas over the deployment of floating barriers on the Rio Grande, also in Eagle Pass. In December, the 5th Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, ordered Texas to remove the barrier. Texas has asked the appeals court to reconsider the case.

The relentless Texas heat, even during their overnight shift, was a challenge. Not every soldier appreciated Edgar, the tarantula living in their gym. The Alamo was less impressive than they expected.

The 15 National Guard soldiers Gov. Chris Sununu deployed to the Texas border in April returned to New Hampshire this month with other memories that were far harder to share. At the top of the list was seeing families, especially children, risk so much, even their lives, to reach the United States.

Sgt. Timothy King wiped away tears recalling the young girl he saw lying on the Mexico side of the border fence, looking near death from heat stroke. Soldiers were denied permission to cut the fence to reach her and instead passed ice sheets over it to cool her body. Before King knew whether the girl, about 4, lived or died, he was called away for a fight involving nearly 100 migrants.

“I called the chaplain and did a prayer for the kid,” said King, 26, of Fremont. “I was trying to talk myself out of ‘the kid was dead.’ It sticks with you more than you think.”

Learning later that the girl and her father, also suffering from heat stroke, survived didn’t make the encounter any easier to share.

New Hampshire Guard troops have deployed to the Mexico-U.S. border before under federal orders to assist the U.S. Border Patrol. This time, Sununu used $850,000 in state money to send them to Eagle Pass, Texas, to help it beef up security at its border. The soldiers were not authorized to detain individuals. Instead they monitored for suspicious activity and reported breaches in the fence and illegal crossings to Texas authorities.

In their two-month deployment, the soldiers averaged about 35 detections a night of suspicious activity and illegal crossings. A few migrants tried to run into the woods after clearing the fence but most were “give ups,” people who requested asylum immediately, said Spc. Conner Sills.

Nights were often busy even before their 1.5 miles of responsibility along the fence doubled.

“You have to pay attention and be observant of what’s happening not only in front of you at the anti-climb barrier, but what’s happening in the river, and what’s happening on the opposite bank,” Lt. Ryan Camp told the Bulletin during its reporting trip to Eagle Pass in April. “Every encounter we have on the border is different, and we have to adapt every night to every scenario.”

When Sununu welcomed the soldiers back Tuesday at the Guard’s Pembroke armory, he congratulated them on their work.

“It’s not like getting duty in Vegas or somewhere exotic and exciting. It can be a tough place and obviously, tough temperatures, even at night,” he said. “There’s no doubt you made a difference.”

In their two-month stint, nightly detections of individuals went from an average of 35 to zero, a drop soldiers credited largely to Texas’ decision to fence off its border with Mexico and line it with soldiers from around the country. As of April, the most recent data available, encounters in the Del Rio sector, which includes Eagle Pass, were down 14.3% over last year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.

“People come up (from Mexico to cross) and say, ‘Maybe not here,’ ” King said.

The soldiers declined to talk about the politics of the border or respond to criticism from some New Hampshire leaders who called Sununu’s decision to deploy them a political stunt. Nor would they share their thoughts on learning during their flight home that President Joe Biden had signed an executive order allowing him to close the border under certain conditions.

But the troops will tell you that it’s nearly impossible to grasp the complexity of the border crisis from nearly 2,000 miles away in New Hampshire. You need to see it firsthand, they said.

“There are thousands of variables, and when you’re not exposed to it, you think there’s maybe one or two that go into how a decision should be made,” said Sgt. Connor Decker during interviews with soldiers after they returned. “But it’s heavy. It’s a heavy geopolitical climate. It’s heavy in humanitarian services. It’s heavy in every single way you could fathom, and it’s too complex to say that something is right and absolute and wrong and absolute. It’s almost like there is no right or wrong answer to how to handle things.”

Decker, 28, of Salem, added, “Which is why we leave all the decisions for the people way above us and just carry out what we (are ordered to) do.”

Capt. Joshua Lynde, commander of the 237th Military Police Company, did not travel with the soldiers but debriefed with them Tuesday.

“If you only hear something on the news … what you might experience and realize is that it’s not always malicious,” he told them. “It’s also people who are just desperately trying to find a better life somehow. And then when you see a family unit of parents and children and they just walk 1,000 miles to get there? It’s difficult. Sometimes it’s those experiences that will help you broaden your perspective.”

That was true for Spc. Kayli Gilman, 21, of Weare, who hadn’t been deployed to the border before. Asked what stuck most with her, she said a change in perspective.

“You kind of get kind of blind to the fact that we have it so good here in a way,” Gilman said. “You see it on the news … and you’re like ‘That’s sad,’ and you change the channel and forget about it. But going down there and seeing it firsthand, it’s definitely eye-opening. Now, if I’m having a bad day … in my head I remember that I could always have it worse. It could always be worse.”

Decker, who had deployed to the southern border before, recounted some of those worse moments. He watched several adults with a child trying to make their way over the fence coils of razor wire.

“It tested my personal resolve … for the safety of that child,” he said. “That rattled me. That was really tough to look at (because of) how that could have gone.” Decker didn’t have to imagine the possibilities because he saw it go badly another night when someone cut their femoral artery trying to clear the fence.

Also challenging was being unable to assist because their orders prohibited them from helping migrants, including getting a child over the fence safely. “We’re just the call-out guys (who report incidents). So having to watch is very tough at times,” he said.

Sills, 21, of Windham, who had been deployed to the border before, echoed that and recalled seeing a woman hurt her wrist and ankle jumping over the fence as her husband and child waited.

“Her child on the other side started crying. Then her husband started crying and she started crying,” Sills said. This played out within sight of the legal port of entry, where the family could have requested asylum. “It’s just not a good feeling to have these families that are doing everything they can to get their freedom, but knowing that they’re not doing it the right way.”

Several of the soldiers said as emotionally hard as it was at times, they’d volunteer again.

“You feel like you make a difference,” said Pfc. Madalyn Delotto, 21, of Derry. “Even if it’s small, it still feels good to know that I did what I could at the time, to put on the uniform and do what I signed up to do.”

Working alongside National Guard troops from other states gave Pfc. Macenzi Connors, 20, of Sandown, a sense of pride, too. She felt better trained and felt her unit treated the migrants with more respect than she saw from other troops. She wasn’t alone.

“We had a lot more discipline than the other states and just seeing how other states treated families versus how we treated them,” she said. “I noticed that the first day down there.”

New Hampshire Bulletin is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Hampshire Bulletin maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Dana Wormald for questions: info@newhampshirebulletin.com. Follow New Hampshire Bulletin on Facebook and X.

A federal judge on Monday ordered immigration agents to stop taking down or cutting through concertina wire placed on the Texas-Mexico border in Eagle Pass by state troopers and National Guard members in their efforts to deter migrants from crossing the border illegally.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration last Tuesday, claiming that the Border Patrol illegally destroyed state property when its agents cut through concertina wire on the banks of the Rio Grande to “assist” migrants to “illegally cross” the border.

District Judge Alia Moses, a George W. Bush appointee, said she would grant Paxton’s request.

“The Court shall grant the temporary relief requested, with one important exception for any medical emergency that mostly likely results in serious bodily injury or death to a person, absent any boats or other life-saving apparatus available to avoid such medical emergencies prior to reaching the concertina wire barrier,” Moses wrote in her order.

Moses will hear arguments from lawyers from Paxton’s office and the Biden administration in the lawsuit on Nov. 7. The temporary restraining order will expire on Nov. 13 at 9:30 a.m. Moses will determine whether her restraining order will continue past Nov. 13 after the hearing.

Within the past three years, the Texas Military Department has spent $11 million to place 70,000 rolls of concertina wire in different parts of the Texas-Mexico border, most notably in Eagle Pass, where migrants have been seriously injured trying to get through the wire.

According to the lawsuit, filed in the Western District of Texas, Border Patrol agents “not only cut Texas’ concertina wire, but also attach ropes or cables from the back of pickup trucks to ease” migrants’ ability to get onto the U.S. side of the river.

The lawsuit names the heads of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Border Patrol as defendants. Paxton’s office is asking a federal judge to rule that immigration agents cutting the wire is illegal and award damages to the state.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Border Patrol, said in an email after Paxton filed his lawsuit that it doesn’t respond to pending litigation.

“Generally speaking, Border Patrol agents have a responsibility under federal law to take those who have crossed onto U.S. soil without authorization into custody for processing, as well as to act when there are conditions that put our workforce or migrants at risk,” a spokesperson for the department said last week.

Earlier this year in Eagle Pass, a state trooper claimed the state’s concertina wire had injured people, including a woman who had a miscarriage while entangled in the wire. In an email message to a superior that was later leaked to reporters, the trooper also said that a 4-year-old girl who attempted to cross the wire “was pressed back by Texas Guard soldiers due to the orders given to them.” The temperature “was well over 100 degrees” and the girl passed out before receiving medical treatment, the email said.

The trooper’s claims are under investigation.

The Texas National Guard and state troopers are still rolling out concertina wire and preventing Border Patrol agents from accessing most of Shelby Park, a 47-acre Eagle Pass park that sits on the bank of the Rio Grande where thousands of migrants have crossed.

Those continued efforts come despite the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this week vacating a lower court’s decision that prevented Border Patrol agents from cutting the state’s concertina wire to apprehend people who already crossed the river.

The Supreme Court’s 5-4 order didn’t give any reason and didn’t explicitly say Border Patrol agents were allowed to access the park or that the state had to remove the concertina wire. So the state has doubled down and some Republican lawmakers have said Texas should defy the Supreme Court’s ruling.

According to NBC News, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency that oversees the Border Patrol, sent a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office Tuesday demanding that immigration officers be allowed access to the park.

“To our knowledge, Texas has only permitted access to Shelby Park by allowing public entry for a memorial, the media, and the use of the golf course adjacent to Shelby Park, all while continuing to restrict U.S. Border Patrol’s access to the park. Please clarify the scope of access Texas permits to the public,” says the letter from DHS general counsel Jonathan Meyer , according to NBC News.

The Texas Military Department’s top officer also signaled quiet defiance in remarks made to agency staff during a Tuesday morning meeting, according to a source familiar with his comments. Military Times and The Texas Tribune verified the identity of the source, who requested anonymity due to potential reprisal from state officials because they are not authorized to speak publicly.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Thomas Suelzer was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to oversee the Texas National Guard and Texas State Guard as the agency’s adjutant general. He told staff that he believes the ruling only permits Border Patrol to cut through obstacles to retrieve stranded migrants, the source said. Suelzer added that his troops will repair any obstacles destroyed by federal agents, and that his troops won’t allow the feds to set up migrant processing centers in areas they’ve blocked.

“The Texas Military Department continues to hold the line in Shelby Park to deter and prevent unlawful entry into the State of Texas,” the agency said in an unsigned statement Tuesday. “We remain resolute in our actions to secure our border, preserve the rule of law, and protect the sovereignty of our State.”

On social media, U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, said Texas should ignore the ruling on behalf of the agents represented by the Border Patrol’s rank-and-file union.

“This opinion is unconscionable and Texas should ignore it on behalf of the @BPUnion agents who will be put in a worse position by the opinion and the Biden administration’s policies,” Roy wrote.

Jeremy Carl, a former deputy assistant secretary of the interior under the Trump administration and current senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, a right-wing think tank, expressed a similar sentiment on social media.

“If Greg Abbott wants to have a future on a national ticket he will defy this lawless Supreme Court and protect the Texas border from invasion,” he wrote.

On social media Wednesday, Abbott posted a picture of four guards rolling out concertina wire with a statement: “Texas’ razor wire is an effective deterrent against the illegal border crossings encouraged by Biden’s open border policies. We continue to deploy this razor wire to repel illegal immigration.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration in October, claiming that the Border Patrol illegally destroyed state property when its agents cut through concertina wire on the banks of the Rio Grande to “assist” migrants to “illegally cross” the border. The Biden administration has said agents cut the wire in order to arrest migrants that were already on American soil as that is what federal law requires.

District Judge Alia Moses, a George W. Bush appointee, eventually ruled in favor of the Biden administration, saying Border Patrol agents didn’t violate any laws by cutting the wire to take into custody people crossing the river illegally.

Texas appealed and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the lower court’s ruling until a panel of judges could hear arguments. The Biden administration took the case to the Supreme Court asking the federal judges to vacate the appeal court’s ruling.

The standoff between Texas and the federal government escalated when earlier this month state troopers and National Guard members took over Shelby Park in Eagle Pass against city officials’ wishes.

On Jan. 12, National Guard members at the park blocked a Border Patrol agent from accessing the river after three migrants drowned while crossing the Rio Grande and two other migrants were still struggling in the water, according to a court filing by the U.S. Department of Justice.

According to the filing, Mexican immigration officials alerted Border Patrol agents at 9 p.m. that night that two migrants were in distress on the American side near the boat ramp at Shelby Park. An hour earlier, a mother with two children drowned in the same area, according to the Justice Department. When a supervising Border Patrol agent told National Guard troops at the park gate about the migrants in distress, one of them responded that they had orders to deny Border Patrol entry.

The Border Patrol agent asked to speak with a National Guard supervisor, who told the agent that “Border Patrol was not permitted to enter the area even in emergency situations,” according to the court filing.

Since then, National Guard has given Border Patrol access to the boat ramp at the park, but the agents have to give their names, and the time they entered the park is recorded, according to a statement by Robert Danley, lead field coordinator for U.S. Customs and Border Protection for the Del Rio area, that was filed with the Supreme Court.

The state has denied the Justice Department’s version of events, saying that the supervising agent who alerted National Guard members at the gate about the drownings didn’t indicate it was an emergency and that “Mexican officials had the situation under control,” according to a court filing by Paxton’s office with the Supreme Court.

Abbott said he will also send C-130s, an aircraft that can take off and land on rough terrain, and Chinook helicopters. The troops, part of a unit called the Texas Tactical Border Force, will join those already deployed to the border through the state’s border security mission, Operation Lone Star, that Abbott started in 2021 in response to the Biden administration’s immigration policies.

Through Operation Lone Star, the state has deployed thousands of state National Guard troops to the border, though it is not clear how many are actively deployed. The Trump administration last week also sent 1,500 active-duty U.S. soldiers to the border.

“Texas has a partner in the White House we can work with to secure the Texas-Mexico border,” Abbott said in a statement. “I thank President Donald Trump for his decisive leadership on the southern border and look forward to working with him and his Administration to secure the border and make America safe again.”

The move is the state’s latest effort to help the Trump administration with its immigration crackdown. Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham has offered the administration a Starr County ranch to be used as a staging area for mass deportations — which an administration official previously accepted.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune under the headline “Abbott sends state troops to U.S.-Mexico border to work with Border Patrol.” Military Times has modified the headline.

The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.