Texas National Guard sent to border for Abbott's stunt as state slashes their tuition assistance
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is ordering Texas National Guard troops to participate in his “Operation Lone Star” border scheme as the Texas legislature is slashing their earned benefits, Army Times reports. “Texas has slashed its tuition assistance budget by more than half—to roughly $1.4 million—to comply with a state-mandated budget reduction.”
Meanwhile, state funding for Abbott’s border scheme—a political stunt called “abusive, dangerous, and unlawful” for locking up hundreds of recently arrived migrants, including asylum-seekers, for weeks and months without any formal charges—increased by $300 million, the report said.
Army Times reports that the tuition assistance slashes are particularly devastating because the aid is one major reason why many join the National Guard in the first place. “Before the cuts, the state offered $4,500 in reimbursement per semester to virtually all Texas Guard troops who were working full-time towards their first undergraduate degree or their first graduate or professional degree.” Army Times says that budget has been slashed from over $3 million during the 2020 and 2021 fiscal years to just $1.4 million for the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years.
It’s a pittance compared to the massive sums of money being wasted at the southern border just so Abbott can win his primary challenge, because that’s the reason why this border stunt is happening (though Greg has also made perfectly clear his disdain for immigrants). Meanwhile, Texas “now only has the money to make $1,000 awards to 714 students against a total Texas National Guard end strength of more than 20,000 troops,” Army Times continued. Graduate students are expected to receive no aid at all.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/10/27/2060545/-National-Guard-sent-to-border-for-Abbott-s-political-stunt-as-state-slashes-their-tuition-assistance
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