Critics, including intraparty ones, of Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s dispatch of state National Guard troops to Texas find their political positioning more tenuous after a recent spate of high-profile arrests of illegal aliens.
Two weeks ago college student Riley Laken in Georgia was murdered, allegedly by an illegal alien (an incident which Democrat Pres. Joe Biden has yet to address even as he promotes legislation named after a habitual criminal), focusing attention on criminal activity by illegal aliens. Under Biden, the U.S. southern border has become particularly porous, with such crossings up 277 percent under Biden compared to predecessor Republican Donald Trump. Unfortunately, this jump during Biden’s third year in office has led to a 257 percent increase in criminal noncitizen arrests compared to Trump’s third year in office; a 319 percent increase in assault, battery, and domestic violence; a 470 percent increase in burglary, robbery, larceny, theft, and fraud; and homicides and manslaughter going from 2 to 62, a 3,000 percent increase.
In response, Landry sent Louisiana troops to aid Texas in its Operation Lone Star, designed to interdict illegal aliens from crossing over state borders that has attracted like support from about a dozen states, for about a month. The estimated cost of this could reach as much as $3 million.
In at least one instance, had Landry’s predecessor Democrat John Bel Edwards done the same, perhaps tragedy in Louisiana could have been prevented. Last week, Kenner police arrested an illegal alien who had been in the country since 2022 on rape and robbery charges. Police Chief Keith Conley outlined how having to deal with such suspects strains policing, which could be vastly ameliorated with tighter border security: “Lack of access to data, false identification and language barriers put local law enforcement at a huge disadvantage. We cannot verify if an illegal alien is giving correct information as it pertains to names and date of births. It is not only a drain on police manpower, but a financial drain on local law enforcement’s budgets and taxpayer’s money.”
Thus, it makes far more sense to save Louisiana local law enforcement and taxpayers these burdens up front by deploying troops to help border states. But state Democrats, and even some Republicans, don’t see it that way. When Landry announced his deployment initiative, GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy critiqued the move, refusing to see it as cost-effective. Whether that is true will become apparent when a Landry initiative to calculate costs of illegal immigration into Louisiana reports back later this year, but anecdotal evidence suggests Cassidy’s view will end up on the wrong side of the data.
Years ago, Cassidy made overt gestures against illegal immigration, and even now still backs some measures that could discourage it. But ever since his 2020 reelection where almost immediately after that he bet on public rejection of Trump and smaller government that his actions consistent to which to this point have backfired, he has been on the defensive and now particularly in reelection trouble for 2026 when party primaries will become installed. This latest incident doesn’t help his cause.
Nor that of other opponents of Landry’s deployment. While there is a fascinating intramural debate over whether illegal aliens are any more likely to commit crimes than legal immigrants or citizens – the matter being caught up in arguments over data sources, data quality, and data reliability – unimpeachably true is that more illegal aliens means more crime. Costs from it certainly are lower if enforced at the front end – entry into the country – than at the back end – responding to criminal behavior. Given the statistics of arrests for criminal behavior, Landry’s policy that lends a hand to enforcement likely is the most cost effective, putting opponents to that on the back foot.
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