Ogden, UT – According to the state officials, the Emergency Management Assistance Compacts came days after Governor Cox visited the border with 14 fellow governors.
On Feb. 26, Utah National Guard will send five Soldiers from the UTNG engineer battalion to maintain military equipment on the southern border.
That same day, one Sergeant and four Troopers from the Utah Highway Patrol’s Criminal Interdiction Team, which specializes in drug investigations, will be deployed for 30 days.
The Utah Highway Patrol estimates the month-long deployment will cost nearly $100,000 while the two-week deployment of Utah National Guard members will cost about $50,000.
Funding will come from the Governor’s Office Emergency Fund.
In recent years, Utah has responded to several EMAC deployments including sending Troopers and Guard members to assist with the emergency response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and providing security at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in 2016.
Since 2018, the Utah National Guard has sent 226 Guard members to the border on various missions.