The Scouting Report: A weekly digest

Battle over the border, new teachers arrive, hike for duck stamps, slowing down commerce

Our journey this week starts on the southern border. No, not Yankton. In Texas, where Gov. Kristi Noem joined Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt for an aerial tour of the border. They were hosted by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. All are Republicans.

“Joe Biden is responsible for the largest amount of illegal immigration in the history of the United States,” Abbott said. He noted that 15 GOP governors, including Noem, have sent military personnel and law enforcement to the border in what has become a futile effort to curb mass, uncontrolled immigration.

While Noem has toured the border before, she said this was her first view from the air. She said it resembled a “war zone,” and that more South Dakota National Guard troops would be deployed Sept. 1.

The visit was denounced by the League of United Latin American Citizens, which accused the governors of joining Abbott’s “hate campaign.”

“We urge these Republican governors to redirect their attention to their own states and refrain from becoming pawns in a failed policy of hatred and fear,” League President Domingo Garcia said in a statement.

The governors talked about the problems in their states caused by illegal drugs coming through the southern border.