TEXAS, USA — Gov. Mike DeWine headed south to Texas on Tuesday to meet with the 113 members of the Ohio National Guard who have been deployed along the southern border with Mexico.
The guard members have been working in support of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection mission along the southern border for nearly a year.
DeWine is being accompanied on the trip to Texas by his wife, Fran, and Maj. General John Harris, head of the Ohio National Guard.
"To the families of the national guard members, I just want to say thank you," DeWine said in a Facebook Live video at the border. "It's been a long year, but we appreciate your sacrifice and we appreciate the men and women who are down here making a difference at the southern border."
The governor is scheduled to receive a briefing from the Texas Department of Public Safety on Wednesday which will include the latest on the humanitarian crisis at the border, plus the work to prevent fentanyl drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States.
"Around 80% of overdose deaths in Ohio are caused by fentanyl that is coming from China to Mexico and over the border into the U.S.," DeWine said on social media. "We are committed to doing all we can to stop the flow of this deadly drug into our state."
You can watch DeWine's Facebook Live video in the player below
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