In a bizarre and sprawling news conference Wednesday, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he supports Texas in its standoff with the federal government and will send the Alaska National Guard to the border if the Legislature provides funding.
According to the governor, sending 100 members of the Alaska National Guard to the border in opposition to the federal government would cost the state about $1 million per month, which he said he will ask the Legislature for. The state has already deployed 20 members of the Guard at the request of the federal government, which is covering the costs.
“I’ve made it clear that I support — and I think most Americans support — the battle that Gov. Abbott has on his hands with regard to open borders,” he said. “I’ll get a read on the Legislature if they want to help appropriate money for that, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I think it’s a good thing.”
Since 2021, Texas has conducted Operation Lone Star to more aggressively police the border with Mexico, arguing that federal efforts have fallen short. Things have escalated as former President Donald Trump has made border security a keystone of his election campaign, particularly with Texas’ decision to install razor wire along parts of the border. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Texas cannot stop or interfere with federal agents.
He insists, though, that such a move is not an attempt to start a second Civil War.
“There’s some nonsense that by doing that you’re setting up a new Confederate Army against the Union, or you’re setting up a flashpoint against Americans,” he said. “That’s not the case, and that’s not something I want. And I know (Texas) Gov. (Greg) Abbott, and that’s not what he wants.”
But the prospect of the state deploying members of the Alaska National Guard isn’t sitting well with some legislators.
Maj. Gen. Torrence Saxe, the state’s adjutant general, has discussed the possible deployment of the Alaska National Guard to support Texas in closed-door briefings with legislators, Anchorage Democratic Rep. Andrew Gray said during a floor speech on Tuesday. Gray said the deployment was framed as hypothetical but that Saxe made it clear the governor could unilaterally choose to deploy troops.
Gray, a U.S. Army veteran, said he was particularly concerned that Saxe said he and deployed members would remove the “U.S.” designations from their uniform if they were deployed in such a mission.
“The commissioner explained that if he, himself — who was in military dress uniform during this briefing — were in Texas on this hypothetical mission, he would remove the U.S. from his collar,” he said. “I told him that as an Army veteran myself, who had deployed with the Alaska Army National Guard that I would never remove U.S. Army from my uniform, never. … In the military, we have one commander-in-chief. When I deployed to Kosovo, my commander-in-chief was President Donald Trump. Today, the commander-in-chief is President Joe Biden. It doesn’t matter if you voted for him. It doesn’t matter if you agree with him. The president is the commander in chief.”
Gray said he was losing sleep over the prospect of American troops deploying against the federal government.
“I am an American,” he said, “I am an Alaskan, yes, but I am an American first.”
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.
