The House bans privately funded National Guard missions, as ordered by the governor of South Dakota, Texas

This summer, Governor Kristi Noem caused a furore by sending the National Guard from her state to secure the border with Texas with Mexico, where a private donor raised the flag. The house is set to ban further insertions.

Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota, sent 50 troops “to secure our southern border," in a move that her Texas counterpart, Greg Abbott, enthusiastically embraced. The mission was designed in response to a security crisis that, as Noem put it, President Joe Biden’s administration “has created." Unconventionally, it was funded by a private donation from the Family Foundation to the Tennessee car rescue magnate, Willis Johnson.

The implementation generated shock waves, with critics in the Democratic Party wondering if it was at all legal to make the guards a ‘private militia’ that billionaires can ‘hire’ to carry out a ‘party political stunt’. That reply to it turned out to be ‘yes, it’s legal.’ But in the future, similar implementations, if they do, will depend on the goodwill of the federal government.

That restriction was proved in an amendment to the must-pass annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which underwent a markup session of the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. The provision prohibits governors from ordering privately funded cross-border missions unless they are part of a federal response to a disaster.

“I do not believe our National Guard should be at auction or for sale," said Texas Democrat Rep. Veronica Escobar when she introduced the change. She offered a justification for the proposal and said there was no way to say whether a “foreign government” hostile to the United States could be the ultimate source of private funding.

Rep. Austin Scott from Georgia pushed back, stating that it was “a completely ridiculous accusation that the National Guard is for sale." The Republican pointed out that all cross-border deployments, no matter how they are funded, require provocation and cooperation between elected officials-governors in relevant states. Nevertheless, the proposal was proved by the committee.

U.S. states regularly send their National Guard personnel across their borders and provide additional boots on the ground and resources to respond to emergencies such as hurricanes or major wildfires. The host state normally supports the bill.

Noem’s office said South Dakota legislation governing emergency management gave the governor authority to cover the cost of the expulsion to Texas with private money. Escobar’s amendment retains an exemption for privately funded disaster relief, but only in the event of a major emergency or disaster announced by the US President.

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