INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb is deploying a team of Indiana National Guardsmen to the southern border of Texas and Mexico.

In a press release on Friday, February 9, Holcomb said the decision was made to "support the ongoing border security mission."

A total of fifty Indiana National Guardsmen are being sent to Camp Atterbury in Franklin, Indiana for one week of training before they are deployed to Texas for 10 months beginning in March 2024.

Holcomb said his decision was a direct request from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

Earlier this week Holcomb along with 13 other governors received a detailed briefing about the border crisis.

“Federal negligence enforcing immigration law and the failure to secure our country’s border jeopardizes national and economic security, affecting every state, including Indiana,” Holcomb said in the statement.

“We’ve worked too hard in Indiana attacking the drug epidemic for more Hoosier lives to be put at risk by a constant supply of killer drugs spilled over an open U.S. border. The only way to resolve this is to stop the historically high flow of illegal immigrants crossing the border.”

The Indiana National Guard has a long history of supporting the mission to secure the southern border.

The press release states from October of 2020 to October 2023, 300 Indiana Guardsmen and women have served various federal missions at the southern border.