DeWine says 'it's in Ohio's interest' to use tax dollars on GOP border stunt

Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine on Tuesday claimed that “it’s in Ohio’s interest” to send law enforcement at taxpayer expense to the U.S.-Mexico border.

On Monday, DeWine said 14 members of the Ohio State Highway Patrol would be sent to Texas after the state’s governor, Republican Greg Abbott, requested assistance with border surveillance.

Alongside Republicans in Congress, Abbott has been part of a campaign attacking the Biden administration for rescinding some of former President Donald Trump’s harsh anti-immigrant policies.

A spokesperson for DeWine told the Ohio Capital-Journal that the state’s Department of Public Safety would be paying for the patrol’s mission to the border.

“We were asked to play a small part in (securing the border), and I said yes,” DeWine told reporters, “I think it’s in Ohio’s interest to do that. I think it’s the right thing to do.”

DeWine also told reporters, “We have a real interest in securing the southern border,” adding that “the vast majority, almost all the drugs that are coming into the state of Ohio come across the southern border.”

Ohio is over 1,900 miles away from the Mexican border.

DeWine’s claim echoes that of South Dakota GOP Gov. Kristi Noem, who is sending National Guard troops to the border, financed by a major Republican donor, to fulfill Abbot’s request. The governor said the deployment was “vital” to her state’s security.

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has also said that he is sending a deployment of 50 law enforcement officers across the country to fulfill Abbot’s request.

DeWine is up for reelection in 2022, and Ohio was one of the few “swing” states in 2020 that remained firmly in Trump’s column as other states swung to the Democrats and Biden.

Both Noem and DeSantis have been discussed as possible 2024 presidential candidates, and most Republican voters favor Trump-style harsh anti-immigrant policies.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.