Rick Perry to send 1,000 National Guard troops to Texas border

AUSTIN, Texas, July 21 (UPI) -- Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry will activate the Texas National Guard and deploy roughly 1,000 servicemen to Texas' portion of the U.S./Mexico border, according to a leaked memo.

The internal memo, leaked anonymously to border-town newspaper The Monitor, says Perry will announce the activation and deployment Monday. A spokesman for Perry's officer refused to confirmed or deny the report, but said the governor will deliver a news conference at 2 p.m. local time to address the ongoing immigration crisis.

"This is not a militarization of the border," the memo reportedly states.

"The DPS and the National Guard are working to keep any drug and human trafficking south of 83 and with the goal of keeping any smuggling from entering major highways to transport East/West/and North."

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Perry called for the National Guard to intervene "because this flood of children is pulling away the border patrol from their normal duties of keeping [out] bad people, keeping [out] the drug cartels."

"This is allowing the border patrol to get back to what they are supposed to do. Right now, reports of up to 70 percent of them are taking care of these young people who have come in rather than doing their job of securing the border ... [President Obama] could pick up the phone today, call the DOD and direct them to have the 1,000 National Guard troops on the border."