Wyoming is sharing secure intelligence with agents patrolling the southern border as part of a multi-state effort to resolve issues caused by illegal border crossings, a member of Gov. Mark Gordon’s staff told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday
Rob Creager, business and economic development advisor to Gordon, said Wyoming joining the “American Governors Border Strike Force” means more than the state offering up “bodies and equipment” when needed.
“It also means sharing data we have and our Homeland Security Office working with other states and law enforcement,” he said. “We’re already working with intelligence folks down at the border.”
Gordon on Tuesday joined 25 other Republican governors in creating a “border strike force” to deal with the “chaos” currently occurring at the southern border.
The strike force is a multi-state partnership “designed to disrupt and dismantle the transnational criminal organizations taking advantage of the chaos [President] Joe Biden has created along the southern border,” according to a statement from Gordon’s office.
Gordon’s spokesman Michael Pearlman told Cowboy State Daily that as of this week, Wyoming has received no formal request for assistance.
“At such time that a formal request for assistance is made, the Governor will work with the Office of Homeland Security and law enforcement agencies to analyze our resources and see what type of assistance we could provide,” Pearlman said.
The governor’s office is in conversation with the state of Arizona about a law enforcement training opportunity for officers from both states related to the border crisis.
Creager said it was important for Wyoming to join the strike force due to the increase in drug trafficking seen in the state that can be tied back to the border.
“Unfortunately, our border states are being strapped with a lot of the financial burden on these resources, so we’re really trying to come together, because this affects the entire country,” he said. “We’re banding our resources together to really try and tackle this problem. We’re hopeful that the president will recognize that over half the country’s governors are doing this because we need federal leadership on this issue.”
Some of the other states joining the task force are Alabama, Utah, South Dakota and Idaho.
Gordon has regularly criticized Biden’s immigration policies in the face of a record-breaking number of migrants continuing to attempt or successfully crossing the border into the United States.
Last week, Gordon announced Wyoming and 19 other states are asking a federal court to force the administration to reinstate a policy aimed at preventing entry into the United States by people who pose a health risk.
Last year, Gordon joined several of his fellow Republican governors at the border to denounce Biden’s immigration policies.
Neither the Western nor Republican Governors Associations returned Cowboy State Daily’s requests for comment by publication time.
