GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — On Friday, 120 Michigan Army National Guard soldiers will prepare to deploy to the southwest border to help federal law enforcement, the state announced Thursday.
Michigan Army National Guard’s 1430th Engineer Company, which is based out of Traverse City, will be helping the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s “mission along the Southwest Border,” according to from a release from the Michigan Department of Military and Veteran Affairs. They will help with border security and the mission will last up to a year.
“Under the direction of U.S. Northern Command and Joint Task Force North, their mission is to assist CBP. The Soldiers will provide mission enhancing support to CBP’s border security operations to enable CBP agents to conduct their law enforcement mission,” the state wrote in a release.
The 1430th Engineer Company has not deployed since it went to Afghanistan in 2010 but other companies with the Michigan National Guard have been deployed six times since 2020 — in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2024.
To send them off, the National Guard is hosting a departure ceremony Friday at Lawson Ice Arena in Kalamazoo for the soldiers, their families and guests.