02.04.24

Hoeven Thanks NDNG’s 1st Battalion 112th Aviation Regiment for Service Along Southwest Border After Year-Long Deployment

BISMARCK, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven today welcomed home the North Dakota National Guard’s (NDNG) 1st Battalion, 112th Aviation Regiment, following a year-long deployment under the direction of U.S. Northern Command and Joint Task Force North to provide aviation support along the nation’s southwest border. In October 2022, Hoeven visited the 1-112th in El Paso, Texas as part of his efforts to support their and U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) important work and call attention to the crisis along the southern border. This was the battalion’s third deployment, following missions in Bosnia from 2005 to 2006 and Kosovo from 2011 to 2012.

“The National Guard represents the finest men and women in our country, and their work each day to protect our nation deserves our recognition and gratitude,” said Hoeven. “The U.S. is facing an unprecedented crisis at the southern border, and we deeply appreciate the members of the 1-112th battalion, as well as their families, for their sacrifices over the past year to support CBP’s operations. Border security is national security, and our Guard members have our thanks for their ongoing contributions to this critical mission.”

Illegal encounters at the southern border continue to reach record numbers. In December 2023, CBP reported 302,034 illegal crossings – the highest ever monthly total. CBP also reported annual increases in illegal encounters totaling – 785,422 to date in fiscal year (FY) 2024; 2.475 million in FY2023; 2.378 million in FY2022; and 1.734 million in FY2021.

Accordingly, Hoeven has met with North Dakota National Guard members in Del Rio and Eagle Pass, Texas in recent years to highlight their mission in support of CBP operations, in addition to his visit to El Paso. The senator has also reviewed border operations in the Rio Grande Valley and Brownsville, Texas, and traveled with a bipartisan congressional delegation to Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia and Guatemala to outline the need to work with these nations to stop illegal immigration and prevent human and drug trafficking. To stop this crisis and combat cartels from trafficking people and drugs into the U.S., Hoeven is pressing the Biden administration to:

  • Reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) or Remain in Mexico Policy, which required people seeking asylum at the southern border to wait in Mexico while their case was adjudicated.
  • Strictly Enforce the Safe Third Country Agreements requiring that those coming from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala seek asylum there first, otherwise be returned to await the outcome of their claims. 
  • Resume construction of the border wall at the nation’s southern border and put in place the technology, infrastructure and personnel needed to secure the border, utilizing funding Congress has already appropriated.

-###-